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This  is  No.. 


of  525  copies  of  the 


Life  and  Works  of  Barye  the  Sculptor,  printed  on 
Holland  paper  at  New-York  in  November  of  1889. 


LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  BARYE 
THE  SCULPTOR 


gARYE 


LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  ANTOINE  LOUIS  BA  RYE 
SCULPTOR  WITH  EIGHTY-SIX  WOOD -CUTS 
A R TO  TYPES  AND  PRINTS  IN  MEMORY  OF  AN 
EXHIBITION  OF  HIS  BRONZES  PAINTINGS 
AND  WATER- COLORS  HELD  AT  NEW -YORK 
IN  AID  OF  THE  FUND  FOR  HIS  MONUMENT 
AT  PARIS  WRITTEN  BY  CHARLES  DE  KA  Y 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  BA  RYE  MONUMENT  ASS  0- 
CIA  TION  A T NEW-  YORK  IN  NOVEMBER  OF 
M D CCC  LX XX IX 


Copyright  1889  by 

Charles  de  Kay 


The  DeVinne  Press. 


THE  AUTHOR  DEDICATES 
THIS  VOLUME 
TO 

WILLIAM  THOMPSON  WALTERS 

FIRST  TO  HONOR  THE  GENIUS  OF 

ANTOINE  LOUIS  BARYE 

WITH  BRONZES  ERECTED  IN  AMERICA 
FOREMOST  OF  THOSE 
WHO  WOULD  RAISE  HIS  MONUMENT 


ON  THE  SEINE 


No.  84.  Force. 
Stone  Group  on  the  Louvre. 


A NOTE  IN  PREFACE 


France  has  writers  and  critics  so  many  and  so  able  that  it  seems  pre- 
sumptuous in  an  American  to  discuss  one  of  her  masters.  Yet  how  often  do 
we  not  find  the  view  taken  by  a foreigner  more  suggestive  than  the  opinions 
of  a fellow-countryman  ! A great  artist  may  be  regarded  through  various 
facets , of  which  the  one  may  be  not  less  true  than  the  other. 

The  volume  offered  by  the  Barye  Monument  Association  to  those  inter- 
ested in  the  fund  for  a monument  to  Antoine  Louis  Barye  at  Paris  is  the 
memorial  of  a very  uncommon  event.  The  United  States  has  no  sentimen  tal 
feeling  with  regard  to  France  as  the  fatherland , like  that  which  a large 
number  of  Americans  cherish  toward  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Bonds 
of  amity  were  knit  in  the  past , and  others  have  been  formed  since  France 
became  a republic ; but  the  difference  of  tongue  more  than  offsets  these. 
Therefore  great  merit  must  exist  in  the  artist  whose  work  exercises  enough 
fascination  to  set  Americans  on  the  task  of  gathering  funds  for  a monument 
that  is  to  stand  three  thousand  miles  away  across  the  ocean.  It  is  often 
said  that  art  has  no  country.  But  when,  before  this,  has  a foreign  land 
raised  a monument  to  a sculptor  of  modern  times  1 

One  object  toward  which  this  work  tends  is  the  establishment  of  sculp- 
ture in  its  proper  place  by  the  side  of  painting.  Whatever  diversity  of 
opinion  may  exist  with  regard  to  the  psychological  effect  exerted  by  the 
grim  statuettes  of  Barye  on  observers,  it  will  be  acknowledged  that  sculp- 
tures on  a small  scale,  wrought  with  the  learning  and  skill  he  showed, 
deserve  more  than  common  encouragement  at  present.  They  form  the 
taste  of  those  who  buy  them,  and  tend  to  save  the  people  from  wasting 


B 


IX 


their  wealth  on  bad  art.  The  exhibition  at  the  American  Art  Galleries 
begins  a veritable  mission  work  in  favor  of  sculpture  for  the  house  and 
home. 

Aside  from  its  purpose  as  a memorial  of  the  exhibition  it  offers  the  only 
comprehensive  Life  of  Barge  in  English.  Even  the  French  treatise  by  M. 
Arsene  Alexandre  does  not  give  a complete  review  of  his  life  and  works 
while  it  is  comparatively  scant  of  pictures.  Lives  of  sculptors  cannot  sin  on 
the  pictorial  side  so  far  as  abundance  of  illustrations  is  concerned.  In 
default  of  the  objects  themselves  good  pictures  are  needed  to  corroborate  or 
disprove  what  the  essayist  may  advance,  or  perchance  suggest  things  for 
which  he  has  no  room  in  his  work,  things  he  has  forgotten  or  ignores. 

For  that  reason  as  many  works  of  Barge  as  are  suitable  to  a well-made 
book  have  been  given  here.  Save  where  printed  on  India  and  secured  to  the 
leaf  the  wood-cuts  are  impressed  directly  on  the  Holland  paper  of  the  book, 
its  fibre  being  crushed  down  to  a surface  smooth  enough  to  receive  the  im- 
pression. The  artotype  process  has  been  selected  in  order  to  give  as  nearly  as 
may  be  the  colors  of  patinas  which  the  cunning  of  the  master  has  caused  to 
bloom  on  the  bronze.  Tims  in  one  sense  this  is  a picture-book.  Containing 
portraits  of  the  choicest  pieces  in  private  hands  on  this  side  of  the  ocean,  it 
takes  the  place  of  a gallery  of  costly  bronzes.  But,  many  as  are  the  illus- 
trations, the  author  indulges  a hope  that  readers  will  not  consider  the  text 
for  that  reason  a negligible  quantity. 

In  general  the  letter-press  follows  a chronological  course,  but  not  a rigid 
one.  The  main  movement  is  from  Barge’s  work  on  single  animals  and 
groups  of  beasts  to  monsters  of  legend  and  myth,  thence  to  symbolical  groups 
of  human  beings,  like  that  shown  on  the  page  before  this  preface.  Barge 
was  a painter  of  no  mean  skill  in  oils  and  a water-colorist  whose  pictures 
exert  a steadily  increasing  fascination,  because  of  their  color,  their  child- 
like truth  to  nature,  the  absence  from  them  of  all  that  is  petty  and  imma- 
terial. But  the  text  deals  with  his  sculpture  almost  exclusively,  because 
therein  he  was  preeminent.  His  range  as  a sculptor  is  so  wide  that  the  old 
masters  of  Greece  and  Italy  are  passed  in  review  without  finding  a parallel 
to  him. 


Despite  all  this  merit , it  remains  nevertheless  a fact  that  much  which  has 
been  written  concerning  Barge  is  forced  and  therefore  untrue.  Barge 
would  smile  at  its  extravagance  could  he  read  it.  The  reason  for  this  lies 
in  the  fact  that  his  genius  has  been  warmlg  felt  bg  men  to  whom  the  why 
and  wherefore  of  that  genius  were  hidden.  In  such  a matter  much  of 
course  remains  and  will  remain  obscure  ; but  there  is  no  need  to  despair  of 
light.  In  the  following  pages  certain  facts  are  o ffered  which  mag  account 
in  some  degree  for  the  appearance  of  Barge  in  our  centurg  and  in  France. 
Can  we  see  the  true  color  of  angthing  in  nature  without  noting  the  colors 
that  environ  it  % So  far  as  possible  within  the  limits  assigned  I have  tried 
to  place  Barge  against  his  background.  Isolate  him  and  he  seems  a 
monster.  Attach  to  his  figure  the  strands  that  connect  a man  with  his  in- 
tellectual and  social  environment,  and  he  assumes  his  proper  colors  and 
meaning. 

During  this  pleasant  task  several  friends  have  been  helpful.  The  frontis- 
piece bg  Flameng  and  the  right  to  use  a number  of  the  wood-cuts  are  due  to 
Mr.  Walters.  Mr.  Lawrence  xvas  kind  enough  to  forward  several  books  arid 
catalogues  from  Paris.  I have  to  thank  Mr.  Alexander  W.  Drake  for 
many  suggestions  regarding  petty  details  of  publication , a mistake  in  ang 
one  of  which  might  cost  the  favor  of  bibliophiles.  Verg  special  thanks  are 
due  to  The  Centurg  Compang  for  the  headbands  and  for  permission  to  use 
more  than  one  score  wood-cuts  without  charge  to  the  Barge  Monument  fund. 


XI 


No.  66. 


Hunt  op  the  Bear  (another  view). 
Bronze.  Height,  18  inches. 


A^TOraE  LOUIS  BAETE 


Chapter  One 

I 

is  not  by  chance  that  the  present  century  offers  the  first 
example  of  a sculptor  who  gave  his  best  years  to  the  study  of 
animals ; nor  by  haphazard  was  France  the  land  in  which  he 
appeared.  Neither  was  Antoine  Louis  Barye  wanting  in  comrades  who 
showed  the  same  tendency  in  a less  degree,  nor  in  successors  who  approach 
him  in  the  power  to  express,  through  the  fine  arts,  the  majesty,  the 
dramatic  fire  and  even  the  humor  of  animals. 

Speculations  on  the  existence  of  beings  superior  to  men  had  been  pushed 
to  great  lengths  in  the  century  that  produced  Swedenborg.  The  time 
came  for  an  examination  on  more  solid  ground  of  the  tangible  inhabi- 
tants of  earth,  ranged  below  human  beings,  but  placed  so  far  beneath 
that  few  thinkers  were  prepared  to  acknowledge  any  connection  whatever. 
Buffon  had  made  a taste  for  natural  history  the  fashion  without  alarm- 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


mg  the  men  of  faith.  Linnaeus  opened  vistas  into  the  nature  of  plants 
and  in  England  the  elder  Darwin  seized  on  the  romantic  side  of  vegetable 
existence  and  tried  to  give  it  poetic  expression.  Cuvier  was  sufficiently 
practical  and  conservative  to  escape  the  hostility  of  those  wedded  to  the 
narrower  view  that  looked  only  toward  heaven ; but  Lamarck  first  sowed 
the  seed  which  Charles  Darwin  and  Alfred  Russell  Wallace  have  fostered 
into  the  modern  doctrines  of  evolution.  And  because  he  sowed  it 
Lamarck  was  rejected  by  his  generation  and  might  still  be  unknown, 
had  not  Darwin,  with  a magnanimity  rare  among  scientific  men  before 
his  time,  distinctly  affirmed  that  it  was  his  neglected  work  which  gave 
the  hint  for  the  view  of  animal  and  plant  nature  known  as  Darwinism. 

Barye  was  therefore  born  into  an  atmosphere  electric  with  curiosity  as 
to  the  mental  if  not  the  moral  character  of  animals,  and  before  he  became 
of  age  to  handle  clay  with  mastery  the  path  of  the  century  as  regards 
natural  history  was  set.  Some  thinkers  of  the  past,  Giordano  Bruno 
in  the  sixteenth  century  and  Lamarck  in  the  present,  had  dared  to 
break  down  the  barrier  which  was  supposed  to  rear  itself  impassable 
between  human  beings  and  the  lower  creation.  Barye  gave  himself  to 
the  study  of  animals  with  the  curiosity  that  makes  of  children  good 
observers  if  their  taste  for  beasts,  birds  and  insects  is  not  stifled.  He 
came  to  it  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  artistic  temperament  and  was 
encouraged  to  persevere  by  finding  from  the  works  of  Button,  Cuvier 
and  Lamarck  that  there  was  a whole  world  yet  to  discover,  not  only  for 
the  naturalist,  but  for  the  sculptor. 

But  Barye  in  his  turn  suffered  from  the  unpopular  line  which  he 
then  chose.  Had  a canvass  of  the  artists  of  Paris  been  made  to  decide 
whether  his  Lion  Crushing  a Serpent  should  be  placed  in  the  garden 
of  the  Tuileries  where  it  now  stands,  unquestionably  the  vote  would  have 
been  adverse,  irrespective  of  jealousies  arising  from  art  or  from  politics. 
In  all  likelihood  the  naturalists  by  profession  would  have  been  luke- 
warm, because  they  might  not  have  perceived  that  to  study  animals  for 
the  purpose  of  showing  through  sculpture  that  they  are  worthy  of 
admiration  is  one  way  of  educating  the  public.  Luckily  the  group  was 


2 


Height  Q%  inches 


HIS  SERVICES  TO  THE  ANIMALS 


bought  and  placed  by  one  of  those  arbitrary  acts  which  sometimes  give 
an  argument  in  favor  of  one-man  power.  Yet  for  thirty  years  after  its 
erection  Barye  was  neglected.  This  came  about  through  a variety  of 
reasons,  some  having  to  do  with  intrigues  among  artists,  others  with 
politics  ; but  the  underlying  cause,  which  furnished  steady  fuel  for  the 
attacks  of  ill-wishers  and  of  persons  honestly  ignorant  of  his  meed,  was 
hostility  to  any  movemeut  that  looked  toward  a lessening  of  the  gap 
between  man  and  beast. 

An  epoch,  however,  which  has  made  the  startling  discovery  that 
animals  make  houses  for  themselves,  reason  from  cause  to  effect  in  a 
limited  sphere,  and  exhibit  many  of  the  lower  emotions  and  affections 
of  men,  cannot  afford  to  neglect  them  as  subjects  for  the  fine  arts. 
Birds  are  found  to  have  more  than  an  ear  for  music  and  a power  in 
some  cases  to  reproduce  articulate  speech.  Members  of  the  grouse 
family  enjoy  dancing;  ravens  and  magpies  are  affected  by  obscure 
gropings  after  the  beautiful,  shown  by  collecting  brilliant  objects,  and 
the  bower-bird  constructs  elaborate  huts,  connects  them  by  arbors, 
decorates  the  huts  and  arbors  with  berries,  feathers  and  shining 
stones,  and  uses  the  buildings  for  a sporting-ground.  So  that  the 
rudiments  of  architecture  and  the  fine  arts  are  present  in  the  animal 
creation. 

Those  who  reject  theories  based  on  the  possibility  that  most  animals 
choose  their  partners  with  some  regard  to  their  beauty  and  deny  that 
such  considerations  are  possible  to  their  minds,  will  yet  agree  that  the 
men  of  ancient  times  and  the  middle  ages  failed  to  obtain  from  animal  life 
a tithe  of  the  material  offered  thereby  to  the  fine  arts.  It  is  to  Barye 
that  we  owe  enlightenment  in  this  respect.  Against  manifold  discourage- 
ment he  struggled  for  half  a century  to  assert  the  dignity  of  animals  as 
fit  objects  for  the  chisel.  Saying  little  but  thinking  much,  he  was  con- 
tent to  create  works  of  imperishable  beauty  on  a scale  often  most  insig- 
nificant, feeling  confident  that  in  time  the  woi'ld  would  come  round  to 
his  view  and  begin  to  express,  too  late,  and  after  the  world’s  fashion, 
the  value  placed  at  last  on  the  work  of  genius  misunderstood. 


3 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


II 

The  novelty  of  Barye’s  position  did  not  strike  his  contemporaries 
in  general,  though  some  regarded  it  unfavorably  and  a few  with  the  ad- 
miration it  deserved.  From  the  earliest  record  of  man’s  appearance  in 
Europe,  from  the  carvings  left  in  French  caves  by  the  men  who  hunted 
the  hairy  elephant,  animals  have  attracted  the  eyes  that  see  better  than 
a neighbor’s,  the  hands  that  draw  an  object  more  perfectly  than  those 
of  the  next  man.  The  energy  and  despair  of  wild  beasts  of  prey  were 
reproduced  by  the  carvers  of  bas-reliefs  on  the  Euphrates  in  such  a fash- 
ion that  we  are  still  moved  by  sight  of  their  rage.  Until  very  recently 
the  Greeks  were  supposed  to  have  neglected  animal  figures,  and  the 
statement  may  be  true  of  the  statelier  walks  of  Greek  art ; but  now,  in 
the  terra-cotta  groups  from  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  we  have  evidence 
of  an  ability  to  model  the  lion,  goat  and  cow,  if  not  the  horse,  which 
redeems  the  Greeks  from  even  this  blemish  on  their  supremacy. 

Owing  to  ignorance  of  the  lower  phase  of  Greek  art  the  workmen 
of  the  middle  ages  copied  the  more  conventional  figures  of  animals 
and  were  prone  to  give  them  a heraldic  stiffness  rather  than  the  free 
action  of  life.  The  horses  in  the  battle-scenes  of  early  Italian  masters, 
the  lions  and  horses  of  Rubens,  even  the  dogs  and  boars  of  a specialist 
like  the  Dutch  painter  Snyders,  are  not  such  living  and  characteristic 
likenesses  as  we  have  in  the  present  century  learned  to  ask  from  mas- 
ters of  the  craft.  The  pen  sketches  of  Rembrandt  are  an  earnest  of  what 
we  now  demand.  In  sculpture  the  horses  of  every  famous  Italian 
of  the  great  epoch  and  more  recently  would  not  meet  the  requirements 
of  to-day,  because  Barye  has  set  a standard  of  excellence  for  the  treat- 
ment of  the  horse  in  sculpture  which  is  recognized  by  the  very  men  who 
least  appreciate  his  merits,  a standard  that  has  made  the  difficulty  of 
their  task  harder  for  those  who  were  his  detractors  and  rivals. 

How  ready  artists  were  to  accept  the  popular  verdict  on  Barye  is  seen 
by  the  confession  of  M.  Auguste  Rodin  the  sculptor,  that  up  to  the  time 


4 


No.  4.  Tiger  Couchant  (water-color).  Avery  Collection. 

13  x 20 inches. 


eodin’s  estimate  of  baeye 


lie  modeled  Tlie  Age  of  Brass,  and  while  at  work  with  the  statuary 
Belleuse,  he  saw  nothing  in  Barye  to  admire,  hut  that  when  he  himself 
struck  out  a path  which  has  recently  raised  him  to  the  front  of  sculp- 
ture in  France  and  the  scales  fell  from  his  eyes,  he  discovered  his  mis- 
take. T.  H.  Bartlett  quotes  him  in  The  American  Architect  of 
June  1st,  1889  as  saying,  Barye  was  the  ‘ master  of  masters  who  clung 
to  nature  with  the  force  and  tenacity  of  a god  and  dominated  every- 
thing. He  was  beyond  all  and  outside  of  all  art-influences,  save  nature 
and  the  antique.  He  was  one  of,  if  not  the  most,  isolated  of  artists  that 
ever  lived.  Emphatically  original,  and  the  first  in  the  world  in  that 
kind  of  originality,  he  was  himself  and  himself  alone.  One  thinks  of 
him  and  the  Assyrians  together,  though  it  is  not  known  that  he  knew 
anything  about  them.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  he  was  affected 
by  them,  because  everything  that  he  did  was  Barye.  He  is  too  strong  to 
be  generally  liked  even  in  France.  Neither  is  he  understood ; he  belongs 
to  the  centuries,  and  only  after  them  will  he  be  loved.  He  is  our  great 
glory  and  we  shall  have  to  depend  upon  him  in  coming  generations.’ 

We  need  not  accept  this  eulogy  word  for  word ; it  is  given  to  show  the 
impression  made  upon  a master  of  his  craft  after  a thorough  examina- 
tion of  a sculptor  whom  he  once  misconceived.  Perhaps  an  easier  test 
is  the  coarse  one  of  relative  rank.  M.  Rodin  places  Barye  before  Rude, 
the  sculptor  of  the  high  reliefs  on  the  Arc  de  Triomplie,  and  ranks 
Carpeaux  below  both. 

Ill 

Barye  and  Delacroix  may  be  considered  examples  of  the  way  in 
which  artists  express  in  their  own  fashion  the  ideas  of  the  century, 
which  are,  as  we  say,  floating  in  the  air,  but  have  not  yet  settled  and 
borne  fruit  visible  to  the  generality  of  men.  Strange  gusts  of  air  fore- 
run the  storm.  These  artists  of  genius  represent  the  forerunners  of 
that  storm  of  controversy  regarding  the  proper  conception  of  man’s 
place  on  earth  which  still  rages,  although  the  storm  centre  has  perhaps 
passed. 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


In  all  ages  the  artist  has  been  the  one  whose  work  has  glorified 
religion,  but  always  in  a subtle  fashion  he  himself  has  criticised  his 
employers.  The  cathedrals  we  still  admire  in  their  ruined  and  re- 
vamped state  do  not  at  all  represent,  as  many  have  piously  imagined, 
saintly  workmen  on  the  Fra  Angelico  pattern  who  gave  their  lives 
to  labor  for  the  greater  glory  of  God.  There  were  such  men,  all 
honor  to  their  lives  of  self-sacrifice  and  self-obliteration  ! But  the  vast 
majority  were  souls  in  whom  too  close  a contact  with  fallible  men,  raised 
by  a priestly  office  to  a level  above  common  humanity,  bred  a contempt 
and  in  some  cases  a species  of  hatred  of  the  professors  of  religion  itself. 

There  is  to-day  an  underhand  war  between  the  priest  and  the  man 
who  builds  his  church,  works  his  vestments,  pours  magnificence  of 
color  through  his  stained  glass  windows.  Doubtless,  could  we  know 
all,  the  Assyrians  who  carved  the  tablets  of  alabaster  for  shrines  and 
palaces,  in  which  priest  and  king  were  offered  to  the  worship  of  the 
common  folk  with  almost  equal  insistence  as  the  gods  themselves,  felt 
the  same  resentment  against  their  employers  or  their  masters,  knowing 
them  for  men  no  better  than  themselves  and  often  far  below  them  in 
worth.  We  find  this  antagonism  to-day  most  clearly  shown  in  the 
denunciation  of  Free  Masonry  by  the  Papacy. 

The  tendency  of  strong  artistic  natures  is  therefore  toward  revolt 
against  the  conventions  of  religion ; but  it  is  also  ready  to  move  against 
the  conventions  of  society  and  of  art.  They  have  ever  disliked  their 
patrons,  the  aristocrats,  as  well  as  the  priests.  But  in  addition  to  these 
feelings,  hard  enough  to  reconcile,  they  have  in  their  own  breasts  a well- 
spring  of  eternal  life  that  keeps  them  in  a sense  children,  and  often 
leads  them  to  actions  and  words  that  antagonize  the  world,  prompt  to 
take  as  an  affront  whatever  runs  counter  to  prevalent  ideas.  These 
traits  are  so  common  to  artists  in  all  countries  that  to  mention  them  is 
a commonplace. 

Barye  was  born  in  Paris  in  1796  and  felt  the  second  great  swell  of 
feeling  arising  from  the  French  Revolution  about  the  time  (1815)  he 
began  seriously  to  struggle  against  the  fate  that  lay  before  him,  namely 


6 


No.  5.  Rocks  at  Fontainebleau  (oils).  Lawrence  Collection. 

5 K * 1254  inches. 


HIS  LOVE  FOE  BEASTS  SHOWN  EAELY 


that  of  an  obscure  artisan  in  a workshop,  all  of  whose  ideas  beyond  the 
ordinary  would  either  be  repressed  by  his  employer  or  claimed  as  that 
employer’s  own.  As  an  artist  he  could  not  love  conventions ; as  an 
artist  he  was  full  of  the  open-eyed  curiosity,  the  love  of  nature  which 
education  of  books  alone  represses  in  the  child.  Strong  enough  in  his 
own  soul  to  break  his  fetters,  he  turned  inevitably  to  things  ignored  and 
even  sneered  at  by  the  professors  of  art  in  his  time.  This  on  the  sur- 
face. But  deeper  down  was  the  refusal  of  his  soul  to  accept  for  the 
dumb  creatures  of  God  that  degraded  position  as  regards  mankind 
which  was  the  outcome  of  the  religions  that  men  fashion  on  the  plea 
that  they  embodied  the  teachings  of  Christ.  He  turned  to  the  wild 
beasts,  as  in  preceding  ages  many  a taciturn  thinker  like  him,  and  re- 
solved to  show  the  world  that  in  the  realm  below  angels  and  men  there 
is  a kingdom  in  which  tragedy  and  comedy,  love  and  hate,  beauty  as 
beauty,  and  the  beauty  that  contains  terror  have  as  good  a right  to  be 
noted  as  anything  that  more  directly  concerns  mankind. 

But  he  coidd  not  fly  from  men  to  wild  beasts  like  the  old  hermits 
who  were  disgusted  with  the  world.  The  artist  can  not  live  in  a 
solitude ; he  creates  a solitude  in  a crowded  abode  of  men,  leaving  it 
whenever  the  mood  changes  and  the  sight  of  humanity  is  necessary  to 
him.  He  sought  wild  beasts  just  as  the  child  seeks  them,  by  going 
to  menageries  and  traveling  circuses.  His  was  the  true  child’s  delight 
in  forms  and  colors,  in  that  look  of  arrested  ferocity  which  causes  the 
young  to  linger  fascinated  between  the  instinct  to  run  and  the  desire  to 
caress  the  quiet  beasts.  It  is  recorded  somewhere  that  he  and  Delacroix, 
both  students,  both  beginners,  sought  out  a menagerie  at  a fair  in  one 
of  the  suburbs  and  passed  many  days  drawing  the  wild  beasts.  This 
was  before  the  sculptor  began  to  make  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  his  study 
ground.  Both  artists  have  left  imperishable  results  from  these  earliest 
studies;  Delacroix  in  the  superb  Lion  About  to  Attack  a Serpent,  a 
water-color  in  the  Walters  Gallery  and  the  Tiger  and  Serpent  belonging 
to  Mr.  Henry  M.  Johnston,  Barye  in  the  great  bronze  Lion  Crushing  a 
Serpent  which  stands  on  the  river  side  of  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries. 


7 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


In  some  quarters  it  has  been  too  hastily  assumed  that  Barye  owes  his 
impulse  toward  the  sculpture  of  animals  to  his  friend  Delacroix.  This 
is  not  so.  Yet  of  a truth  he  owed  him  more,  namely  the  encourage- 
ment of  a fellow-workman  who  saw  the  meaning  of  Barye’s  enthusiasm 
and  studied  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  him.  And  Delacroix  owed  to 
Barye  just  as  much — for  the  debt  was  reciprocal.  The  fame  of  these 
two  men,  whose  labors  diverged  greatly  in  later  life,  will  always  remain 
allied  and  inseparable  except  by  so  much  as  in  modern  times  the  dif- 
ferent branches  of  art  they  pursued  must  be  separate.  When  we  shall 
detect  in  Barye’s  water-colors  a resemblance  with  the  animals  painted 
by  DelacroLx  we  must  beware  of  supposing  a superficial  connection 
between  the  two.  Compared  with  Delacroix  the  sculptor  remained 
stationary  in  that  branch  of  art  which  was  not  sculpture. 

True  as  they  are  in  many  respects,  broad  and  filled  with  a sombre 
beauty,  these  drawings  are  in  the  nature  of  work  for  a thorough 
understanding  of  the  beast  he  proposed  to  model.  Their  imperfec- 
tions are  on  the  surface;  below  the  technical  shortcomings  lies  the 
power  that  came  of  a profound  study  and  understanding  of  animals 
in  their  bony  structure,  their  flesh  and  hides,  their  movement.  M. 
Arsine  Alexandre  gives  an  anecdote  of  Delacroix  that  means  a 
great  deal.*  Barye  presented  to  Lefuel  the  architect  of  the  Louvre 
two  water-colors  of  tigers,  before  which  Delacroix  used  often  to  stop 
in  admiration;  and  sometimes  he  took  the  trouble  to  make  a rapid 
sketch  of  them.  Occupied  in  a way  so  flattering  to  their  maker,  con- 
sidering the  mastery  he  has  shown  in  painting  animals,  Delacroix 
exclaimed : ‘ I shall  never  be  able  to  give  the  curl  of  a tiger’s  tail 
as  that  fellow  can  ! ’ And  the  truth  thus  blurted  out  may  be  observed 
in  twenty  bronzes  by  the  sculptor.  No  artist  before  or  since  Barye 
has  known  so  well  how  to  render  the  expressions  that  the  great  and 
little  members  of  the  cat  family  register  by  the  sinuous  movements 
of  their  tails. 

* A.  L.  Barye,  par  Arsene  Alexandre,  Paris : Librairie  de  L’Art,  1889. 


8 


NO.  6. 

STORK  ON  TORTOISE 


Height  2*/s  inches 


CRUELTY  TO  CAPTURED  ANIMALS 


\ 


IV 

A prison  is  a horrible  and  unnatural  thing,  but  men  in  captivity 
have  at  least  their  minds  to  occupy  them ; work,  books,  exercise  and 
even  play  relieve  the  tedium  of  their  lives  a little.  A spider  is  taught 
to  be  the  comrade  of  the  prisoner  in  a dungeon  and  rats  learn  to  come 
at  his  call  to  cheer  his  solitude.  The  wild  beast  however,  as  it  paces  to 
and  fro  in  its  bare  cage  with  nothing  to  see  beyond  the  bars  but  troops 
of  staring  men,  is  a yet  more  pitiable  sight.  Every  now  and  then  the 
tiger  will  stop  and  gaze  fixedly,  the  round  pupil  dilating  a little,  as  if  in  a 
waking  dream  of  freedom  in  the  jungle.  Then  with  a hoarse  smoth- 
ered roar  that  is  a sigh,  the  striped  beast  falls  again  to  its  monotonous 
stride,  to  and  fro,  to  and  fro,  a movement  which  some  instinct  causes  it 
to  make  so  that  it  shall  not  die  of  inaction.  Hope  exists  for  the  con- 
vict and  perhaps  he  is  accessible  to  the  idea  that  his  punishment  was 
deserved.  But  the  wild  beast  knows  not  hope;  each  moment  is  an 
agony  to  it  because  it  cannot  escape,  whereas  slaughter  at  the  hands  of 
men  or  under  the  claws  of  another  animal  would  have  a certain 
excitement  that  would  deprive  death  of  half  its  agony.  Pity  for  wild 
beasts  in  confinement  also  drew  Barye  toward  them. 

Pity  is  akin  to  love,  but  to  his  artist  eye  their  beauty  aided  pity. 
What  a liquid  eye,  what  a soft  chinchilla  fur  has  the  panther,  what  a 
lithe  grace  in  its  big-footed  spare  figure  ! No  wonder  the  nations  of 
South  America  keep  them  as  pets  until  their  tempers  sharpen  with  age 
and  they  have  to  be  shot  or  driven  into  the  woods.  The  habit  of  keep- 
ing wild  beasts  as  pets  is  so  common  that  some  naturalist  has  explained 
the  gentler  character  of  the  American  felidce , as  compared  with  those 
of  Asia  and  Africa,  by  suggesting  that  every  wild  beast  now  living 
must  have  had  some  ancestor  in  that  position. 

Observe  the  crowds  around  cages  of  the  smaller  of  the  big  cats  — 
South  American  ocelots,  with  their  dark  rosettes  on  a tawny  ground, 
black  leopards  of  Java,  jaguars  from  Brazil,  cheetahs  or  hunting 


9 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


leopards  of  India.  Most  children  and  many  grown  people  try  to  touch 
and  fondle  them,  so  attractive  is  their  look.  One  often  sees  the  domes- 
tic cat,  with  its  strange  slit  eyes,  more  dangerous  looking  than  these 
animals  whose  life  is  sustained  by  slaughter  and  whose  prey  perhaps 
has  included  man.  The  lioness  often  looks  fit  for  a pet,  and  many  of 
the  wolf  and  fox  family  are  as  pleasing  to  consider  as  so  many  high- 
bred dogs.  The  beauty  of  color,  shape,  movement  and  expression  in 
these  creatures  is  endless,  cribbed,  cabined  and  confined  as  they  are. 
What  must  they  be  in  their  natural  haunts,  when  stalking  their  prey  or 
gambolling  about  with  hunger  satisfied! 

It  was  these  sleek,  charming  creatures,  together  with  those  of  their 
kind  whose  traits  are  ruder,  that  seem  to  have  first  drawn  Barye’s 
attention.  He  caught  the  far-off  look  just  mentioned  in  the  caged  tiger, 
and  shows  it  with  lifted  head  and  twitching  tail,  advancing  toward 
an  enemy.  The  male  lion  too  has  been  modeled  in  the  attitude  of 
challenge,  with  head  higher  than  the  line  of  the  back,  anger  showing  in 
the  curve  of  the  tail.  Lion-hunters  tell  us  that  when  the  beast  is 
hunting  it  carries  the  head  low  ; this  is  the  case  when  about  to  spring, 
or  when  watching  for  game.  We  fiud  the  attitude  in  a terra-cotta 
recently  discovered  in  the  Levant,  where  a draped  goddess  appears  to  be 
rescuing  a youth  from  a lion.  In  Walking  Lion  and  Walking  Tiger 
the  sculptor  has  for  artistic  reasons  avoided  the  commoner  way  of 
carrying  the  head  and  lent  them  the  dignity  they  show  in  confine- 
ment, when  their  heads  come  up  against  the  bars  of  the  cage,  and  their 
muzzles  are  held  high. 

This  is  the  attitude  of  the  lion  in  G-erome’s  painting  of  Christians 
exposed  to  wild  beasts  in  the  Roman  amphitheatre.  The  painter  took 
one  of  Barye’s  lions  bodily  and  placed  it  on  his  canvas,  being  certain 
that  in  so  doing  he  was  working  from  nature  itself  or  perhaps  was 
better  off  than  if  he  took  from  nature.  For  it  is  a curious  fact  that  in 
captivity  the  male  lion  as  a rule  has  a fuller  and  longer  mane  than  in  a 
wild  state,  either  because  our  climate  favors  a thicker  pelt  or  because  in 
the  wild  state  the  mane  is  torn  by  thorns  and  sharp  grasses  or  damaged 


10 


NO 


HIS  FATHER  A SILVERSMITH  OF  LYONS 


in  fights  with  other  lions.  Here  we  find  Barye  declining  to  go  to  the 
extreme  of  realism.  He  takes  the  wild  beast  at  its  best,  even  if  in 
some  respects  its  beauty  is  really  enhanced  by  captivity. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  Barye  saw  immediately  his  path  in 
sculpture  or  was  at  once  convinced  that  a branch  which  is  still  considered 
inferior  was  the  one  for  him  to  pursue.  Meantime  he  was  passing 
through  the  ordinary  hardships  and  discouragements  of  a young  artisan 
without  protectors  or  appreciators.  His  father  was  a jeweler  of  Lyons 
who  settled  in  Paris  and  married  the  daughter  of  an  attorney  named 
Claparede,  perhaps  in  the  matter-of-fact  way  such  things  are  still  ar- 
ranged in  France.  And  yet  time  and  circumstances  warranted  some- 
thing out  of  the  common  in  this  union.  Lyons  or  Lugdun,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  a more  important  city  of  Gaul  than  Paris.  A shrine 
of  the  old  Keltic  deity  Lug  existed  from  remote  ages  there.  Greek 
colonists  moved  up  from  Vienne  and  Marseilles  and  settled  the  place 
in  historical  times  and  the  Romans  made  of  it  a city  enriched  with 
beautiful  buildings.  Claudius,  Marcus  Aurelius  and  Caracalla  were 
natives  of  Lyons.  Its  citizens  therefore  had  the  instincts  and  memories 
of  imperial  power  like  Rome  itself,  and  also  the  traditions  of  artisans 
and  artists  ministering  to  luxury  of  all  kinds.  Ampere  the  physicist 
and  De  Jussieu  the  naturalist  were  from  Lyons.  But  some  years  before 
the  sculptor  Barye  was  born  Lyons  received  a terrible  blow,  and  that 
blow  came  from  Paris,  its  successful  rival. 

In  1793  Lyons  rose  against  the  Convention,  and  held  out  seven  weeks 
before  it  capitulated  to  the  frantic  republicans.  Then  its  citizens  were 
slaughtered  and  its  buildings  demolished.  It  was  as  if  the  antique 
rivalry  between  the  ancient  capital  and  the  modern  only  slumbered  and 
the  overthrow  of  the  royal  family  of  France  served  as  a pretext  for  tak- 
ing the  opposite  side  in  polities.  For  Lyons,  being  an  industrial  city, 
is  naturally  republican. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  jeweler  Barye  found  Lyons  a poor  place  for  his 
trade  after  October  10, 1793,  and  took  his  way  to  the  conquering  city.  As 
Mademoiselle  Claparede  is  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  gens  de  robe,  that 


11 


LIFE  OF  BAR, YE  THE  SCULPTOR 


is  to  say  the  guild  of  lawyers,  the  inference  is  that  the  jeweler  married 
a woman  on  a higher  social  plane.  But  on  the  one  hand  the  times 
were  so  stormy  that  women  much  higher  in  station  made  alliances  with 
men  of  the  people ; on  the  other,  a portionless  bride  from  the  lawyer’s 
guild  might  be  very  glad  to  marry  a jeweler  in  good  circumstances. 
But  we  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  sculptor’s  mother.  She  seems  to 
have  left  no  impression  on  her  son’s  life.  There  can  be  small  doubt  that 
his  early  education  was  neglected.  And  the  age  at  which  he  was  put  to 
a trade  may  warrant  one  of  two  assumptions,  either  that  his  mother  was 
dead  in  1810  or  that  she  did  not  have  the  character  necessary  to  secure 
for  her  son  the  ordinary  advantages  of  a French  boy’s  education. 

The  boy  was  not  fourteen  when  his  father  placed  him  with  Fourrier 
an  engraver  of  military  equipments,  and  later  with  Biennais  a jeweler. 
With  the  one  he  learned  to  engrave  steel  and  other  metals,  with  the 
other  to  make  the  steel  matrixes  used  for  molding  reliefs  from  thin 
metals. 

He  was  sixteen  when  France  decided  to  give  Napoleon  one  more 
chance  to  recover  the  laurels  he  had  lost  and  permitted  the  conscrip- 
tion of  1812  to  be  made.  The  apprentice  was  taken  and  assigned  first 
to  the  military  department,  where  maps  in  relief  were  modeled,  and 
then  to  the  sappers  and  miners.  As  these  gentry  used  to  be  selected 
from  the  taller  and  more  powerful  men  of  the  army  it  may  be  inferred 
that  Barye  was  even  then  large  and  robust.  We  do  not  know  how 
he  passed  the  next  few  years  after  Waterloo,  only  it  is  certain  that  by 
1815,  while  in  the  National  Guard,  he  was  well  aware  of  his  deficiencies 
as  an  artist  and  had  set  his  mind  to  become  a draughtsman  if  not  a 
painter,  and  that  by  1817  he  was  quit  of  the  jeweler’s  bench. 

While  serving  in  the  National  Guard  he  made  an  acquaintance  who 
set  him  on  his  road  by  good  advice,  a sculptor  in  his  own  militia 
company  whose  name  Barye  always  recalled  with  gratitude,  although  it 
has  never  made  a mark  in  the  world.  From  him  he  got  the  encourage- 
ment necessary  to  cause  him  to  make  a resolution  never  afterwards 
broken.  How  likely  it  was  that  a resolution  made  by  a man  like  Barye 


12 


NO.  8. 

MILO  OB'  CROTON  A KILLED  BY  LION.  (M'kd&l) 
Diameter  2^  indies 


Bronze.  Height,  llA  inches.  Bronze.  Height,  1%  inches. 


STUDENT  OF  SCULPTURE  AND  PAINTING 


would  be  carried  through  to  success,  if  it  took  half  a century,  may  be 
inferred  from  his  portraits.  The  firm  mouth  which  appears  in  the 
lithograph  in  L’ Artiste  by  Gigoux  reproduced  here  represents  Barye 
at  thirty-five.  The  next  portrait  and  the  bust  by  Moulin  show  him  in 
middle-age,  while  the  artotype  after  a superb  oil  portrait  by  M.  Bonnat 
is  Barye  at  the  end  of  life.  The  mouth,  which  was  firm  enough  as  a boy 
of  twenty,  grows  firmer  as  the  life  of  the  artist  unrolls. 

About  1816  he  entered  the  atelier  of  a sculptor  of  Italian  birth  called 
Bosio,  a prime  favorite  with  Napoleon  I,  whose  work  may  be  seen  here 
and  there  in  Paris.  He  made  the  reliefs  and  Napoleon  for  the  column  on 
the  Place  Vendome,  and  the  chariot  on  the  arch  in  the  Cour  du  Carrousel, 
Louvre.  Bosio’s  animals  are  particularly  devoid  of  naturalness,  particu- 
larly conventional  after  Italian  precedents ; and  it  may  be  that  indigna- 
tion at  his  master’s  blindness  set  Barye  yet  more  toward  his  favorite 
study.  In  1817  he  was  pursuing  his  purpose  in  another  direction. 
Without  at  once  quitting  Bosio’s  workshop  he  entered  the  studio  of 
Baron  Gros,  the  painter  who  drowned  himself  in  a fit  of  melancholy. 
Delacroix  was  not  his  fellow  student  under  Gros,  yet  according  to  M. 
Dargenty  was  profoundly  influenced  by  the  Baron’s  spirit,  rather  than 
by  the  results  of  his  painting  or  his  theories  with  regard  to  the  arts. 

All  this  while  Barye  had  not  neglected  books  or  Nature.  He  was  a 
reserved  youth  save  to  his  particular  friends,  and  remained  a reserved 
man  diming  life,  public  and  private  griefs  having,  toward  middle-age, 
deepened  his  sober  moods  into  something  very  near  sternness.  Not 
being  given  to  amusing  himself  with  others,  he  began  to  study  Buffon, 
Lacepede,  Lamarck  and  Cuvier,  and  familiarize  himself  with  the  ani- 
mals and  fossils  these  men  described.  He  studied  the  past  and  pon- 
dered over  the  laws,  the  habitations,  the  dress  and  weapons  of  primitive 
men ; so  that  when  it  was  necessary  to  place  a sword  in  the  hand  of 
Theseus  he  chose  the  leaf-shaped  bronze  sword  which  is  found  in  Greek 
excavations  as  well  as  those  of  western  Europe. 

Laboring  partly  for  himself,  partly  for  the  masters  with  whom  he 
worked,  he  longed  for  liberty,  and  in  1819  applied  for  permission 


13 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


to  compete  for  a prize  awarded  by  the  Institute  in  the  department  for 
medals.  Success  would  have  given  him  the  privilege  of  a stay  at  Rome. 
He  was  twenty-three,  an  age  when  many  a clever  young  painter  to-day 
sees  his  name  cabled  to  America  as  the  winner  of  prizes  for  elaborate 
compositions ; yet  Barye  would  have  been  overjoyed  if  he  had  won  so 
insignificant  a competition  as  that  for  a medal  showing  Milo  of  Crotona 
devoured  by  a lion. 

That  his  own  bent  had  not  then  revealed  itself  to  him  we  may  be  sure 
when  we  examine  this  medal,  which  by  some  fortunate  circumstance 
has  not  been  lost,  though  it  failed  to  get  first  prize.  That  was  won  by 
Vatiuelle,  an  artist  concerning  whom  history  is  silent,  while  Barye  was 
complimented  with  the  second.  Gustave  Planche  has  found  in  the  lion 
on  this  earliest  known  essay  by  Barye  the  germ  of  his  after  greatness  as 
the  sculptor  of  beasts.  But  the  critic’s  imagination  has  carried  him 
away.  On  the  contrary  the  medal  has  in  germ  what  Barye’s  detractors 
denied  him — the  power  to  express  the  human  figure.  The  lion  is  in 
sooth  hardly  more  than  the  conventional  mask  we  find  on  many  Greek 
coins  though  the  tearing  of  the  flesh  of  the  thigh  by  the  lion’s  claws 
is  well  rendered.  The  best  of  the  medal  is  the  Milo.  Both  hands 
caught  in  the  tree-trunk  he  has  undertaken  to  split  with  a vain-glorious 
trust  in  his  superhuman  strength,  he  turns  his  head  and  looks  down  on 
the  lion  with  the  air  of  a man  accustomed  to  vanquish  the  king  of  beasts 
and  therefore  unable  to  realize  that  his  own  death  is  near.  He  is  devis- 
ing means  to  kill  the  lion  instead  of  giving  way  to  despair.  We  shall 
find  about  his  human  figures  in  later  life  the  same  invincible  calm  of 
human  superiority. 

Y 

Signed  and  dated  1819  this  medal  of  Milo  and  the  lion  begins  the 
chequered  career  of  Barye  as  an  artist.  If  it  did  not  win  the  recom- 
pense of  a trip  to  Rome,  it  did  get  an  honorable  mention,  but  that,  we 
may  be  sure,  was  for  the  Milo,  not  for  the  lion.  There  is  a coarse 
work  by  Pierre  Puget  (1622-1692)  which  treats  the  same  subject  in 


14 


light  10  inches 


RETURNS  TO  THE  JEWELER’S  BENCH 


the  round.  Next  year  he  tried  again,  "but  in  the  section  for  sculpture, 
not  medals.  The  subject  was  Cain  hearing  the  Voice  of  the  Almighty, 
and  Barye’s  model  again  showed  his  power  in  the  human  figure.  The 
head  of  Cain  was  full  of  shame  and  regret  while  the  action  of  the 
body  was  excellent.  The  winner  was  one  Jacquot,  a person  now  un- 
known in  the  arts.  For  1821  the  subject  was  the  storming  of  a town 
of  Hither  India  by  Alexander  the  Great,  a subject  on  which  the  im- 
agination might  revolve  freely  enough  as  it  is  extremely  improbable 
that  we  know  where  the  town  lay,  or,  having  identified  it,  could  by  any 
possibility  reconstruct  its  appearance  or  that  of  its  inhabitants.  But 
the  academicians  were  of  course  intent  on  Alexander  as  a fit  subject 
for  sculpture. 

Unfortunately  the  design  for  1821  has  been  lost,  for  one  might  find  it 
interesting  to  see  whether  by  that  time  Barye  had  begun  to  turn  toward 
animals.  Doubtless  Alexander  was  on  horseback  or  in  a chariot. 
Lemaire  however  took  the  prize  and  perhaps  Barye  destroyed  his  own 
work  in  disgust.  Next  year  it  was  the  brothers  of  Joseph  bringing  to 
Jacob  the  bloody  garment  as  a witness  of  Joseph’s  death.  Another 
competitor  named  Seurre  knew  better  how  to  hit  the  taste  of  the 
Academy  and  Barye  did  not  get  an  honorable  mention. 

The  Duchess  of  Angouleme  patronized  in  the  old  fashion  a jeweler 
in  the  Passage  Sainte  Marie  named  Fauconnier.  Such  ill  success  drove 
Barye  back  to  the  workshop  whence  he  had  hoped  to  free  himself.  In 
1823  he  entered  the  shop  of  Fauconnier,  but  competed  once  more  — in 
vain.  There  was  no  prize  awarded  in  1823  for  the  subject  of  Jason 
bearing  off  the  Golden  Fleece,  and  Barye’s  model  seems  to  have 
perished.  The  next  year  he  was  not  admitted  to  competition.  The 
wave  had  closed  over  him  and  he  had  been  rudely  bidden  by  fate  to 
remain  at  the  bench  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  And  he  did  remain  there 
eight  years,  during  which  he  modeled  numberless  objects,  many  of 
which  were  animals  on  a small  scale.  Some  are  lost,  being  part  of 
Fauconnier’s  output ; others  have  been  rescued,  re-modeled  and  turned 
into  various  figures  and  groups  on  a far  larger  scale,  thus  acting  for  the 


15 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


latter  as  sketches.  Who  knows  but  that  this  was  one  of  the  lessons 
of  adversity  most  needed  for  a slow  thinker  peculiarly  lacking  in  the 
superficial  quickness  which  brings  fortune  if  not  fame  to  workmen  in 
Paris,  the  factory  for  bibelots  and  pretty  trifles  ? He  had  to  produce 
and  could  not  dispose  of  his  time. 

Yet  besides  the  small  figures  for  Fauconnier  he  modeled  minute 
pieces  which  were  cast  by  Tamisier.  Some  are  pieces  one  might 
wear  as  charms,  like  the  European  and  marabout  storks,  the  tortoise 
of  minim  size.  Others,  and  these  are  unsigned,  belong  to  the  cate- 
gory of  reliefs  in  bronze,  like  the  Lammergeier,  or  Bearded  Eagle 
seizing  a Serpent,  which  will  be  found  in  the  illustration.  The  energy 
of  some  of  these  small  reliefs  is  very  remarkable,  made  as  they  were 
by  a young  artisan  who  was  kept  close  to  the  work-bench  while 
earning  his  daily  bread.  One  has  an  eagle  with  outspread  wings 
exulting  over  the  body  of  a chamois  which  he  has  driven  from  the 
cliff.  The  air  of  defiance  and  triumph  in  the  little  head  is  splendid; 
the  wings  are  treated  in  a novel  and  audacious  fashion.  Hunting  dogs 
at  their  work  and  running  deer  are  found  on  still  other  bronze  placques 
of  this  period. 

In  these  the  workmanship  is  not  broad  as  yet,  but  they  are  rendered 
with  a decision  that  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  The  stork  standing 
on  a tortoise  probably  belongs  to  a later  period  when  he  dared  to  sacri- 
fice details  in  order  to  obtain  the  due  effect  of  masses.  The  charming 
rabbits  and  hares  too,  as  well  as  the  Seated  Cat,  seem  to  speak  of  a 
more  mature  period.  But  though  minute  in  size  the  figures  he  made 
while  with  Fauconnier  have  each  an  individuality.  And  they  show 
whither  his  taste  for  natural  history  was  taking  him.  At  the  same 
period  he  was  assiduously  frequenting  the  J ardin  des  Plantes  for  the 
lessons  in  anatomy  taught  there.  He  visited  the  dog  market  to  study 
hunting  and  other  dogs,  so  that  in  later  life  he  knew  the  different  airs 
of  the  badger-hound,  of  late  a fashionable  pet,  the  mastiff,  the  pointer, 
setter  and  retriever,  and  fixed  them  in  bronze.  To  the  horse  mart  he 
hied  when  a spare  hour  could  be  had,  in  order  to  perfect  his  eye  in  the 


16 


NO.  15. 

RED  DEER  OF  EUROPE,  HART,  HIND  AND  FAWN 
Height  9 inches 


THE  TIGER  DEVOURING  A CROCODILE 


true  look  of  that  friend  of  man  which  man  so  rarely  understands  how 
to  draw  or  paint  or  carve  properly,  that  is  to  say,  with  the  true  move- 
ment and  air  of  the  horse.  How  much  he  profited  by  these  studies 
we  shall  find  when  we  come  to  examine  his  equestrian  groups. 

But  Barye  knew  that  in  sculpture  a living  could  be  won  only  by 
modeling  human  beings,  so  we  find  an  entry  in  the  Salon  of  1827  of 
a bust  of  a young  man  and  another  of  a young  woman  by  the  student 
of  beasts.  But  these  were  not  destined  to  award  him  that  triumph 
among  his  fellow  students  and  the  genuine  amateurs  which  always 
precedes  the  recognition  of  a new  genius.  It  was  not  till  the  Salon 
of  1831,  when  he  was  married  and  a father,  that  he  made  his  first 
success.  To  that  Salon  he  sent  a full  length  Saint  Sebastian  in  terra- 
cotta, concerning  which  a critic  (Stendhal)  remarked  with  satisfaction 
that  at  least  here  was  a sculptor  who  did  not  make  legs  like  a couple 
of  radishes  ! He  also  showed  the  sketch-model  of  a bear  and  a group 
of  different  animals.  But  what  gained  him  applause  and  criticism 
and  the  more  durable  meed  of  a Second  Medal  was  the  Tiger  De- 
vouring a Gavial  of  the  Ganges.  With  this  beautiful  work,  which 
was  bought  for  the  Luxembourg  and  is  now  in  the  Louvre,  Barye 
was  at  last  launched  as  the  greatest  sculptor  of  animals  the  world 
has  known. 

What  struck  the  public  and  those  artists  in  whom  indulgence  in  a 
respect  for  tradition  had  not  mortified  the  capacity  to  understand  the 
original,  was  the  passion  in  the  animals.  Only  sculptors  could  estimate 
the  modeling,  and  most  of  them  were  too  strongly  biased  in  another 
direction  to  speak  out  in  praise.  But  the  critics  and  the  public  felt  the 
spark  of  truth  that  shone  through  this  little  work.  How  relentless  are 
the  big  paws  which  have  seized  the  lizard ; with  what  ferocity  are  the 
tiger’s  jaws  buried  in  its  flesh ! The  hind  feet  of  the  cat  show  sympa- 
thetically their  claws,  and  the  tail  writhes  with  the  pleasure  not  merely 
of  eating  but  of  destroying  life.  For  the  tiger,  more  than  any  other 
carnivorous  beast,  has  the  ill  fame  of  killing  for  the  love  of  it  rather 
than  for  food  alone. 


3 


17 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOE 


The  composition  of  this  group  is  worth  a thought.  The  tail  of  the 
crocodile  wound  round  the  tiger’s  neck,  and  its  body  turned  toward  its 
destroyer  as  the  jaws  vainly  snap,  form  with  the  tiger  a compact  group 
that  displays  a very  attractive  outline  of  its  own.  Judged  as  a paint- 
ing, the  design  might  be  called  too  artfully  composed,  but  in  a bronze 
this  artfulness  is  proper.  The  trait  of  composing  well  was  evident  thus 
early  in  Barye,  and  though  we  shall  find  occasions  when  he  was  less 
happy  in  this  regard,  because  he  felt  the  need  of  more  natural  posi- 
tions, it  is  a quality  that  he  possessed  to  the  last.  It  may  be  noted  that 
the  design  and  execution  are  alike.  Both  are  far  more  precise  and 
deliberate  than  in  his  later  works. 


YI 

With  the  fame  that  was  won  by  this  group  began  his  troubles. 
He  left  Fauconnier  and  set  up  for  himself.  Two  things  were  inevi- 
table as  soon  as  it  appeared  that  a new  sculptor  was  at  hand,  but 
more  particularly  that  a new  line  of  work  in  sculpture  was  opening. 
One  was  an  instinctive,  unconscious  opposition  from  those  who  had 
been  taught  to  revere  the  art  of  the  past,  the  literature  of  the  past, 
the  politics  of  the  past,  and  that  religion  against  which  the  Revolu- 
tion had  sinned  so  cruelly.  The  other  was  that  conscious  and  inten- 
tional opposition  which  forms  the  main  burden  of  complaint  for  the 
French  writers  on  Barye.  To  read  them  one  might  suppose  that  he 
was  the  objective  of  cabals  and  conspiracies,  under  the  attacks  of  which 
he  languished  for  years  unable  or  unwilling  to  show  anything  in  the 
Salon.  All  this  seems  greatly  exaggerated,  very  unnatural,  almost 
impossible.  It  had  comparatively  little  to  do  with  Barye’s  career  until 
he  became  very  much  in  favor  with  the  heads  of  the  State ; then,  of 
course,  mud  was  thrown  at  Barye  which  was  meant  for  his  employers. 
But  the  main  difficulty  lay  not  in  persons  or  cabals,  it  lay  in  the  intol- 
erance of  literary  minds  and  artists,  and  in  the  sensitiveness  of  religioiis 
persons  to  anything  that  smacked  of  novelty.  To  them,  still  quaking 


18 


Height,  1%  inches. 


A FORE-FIGHTER  OF  SCIENCE 


with  the  memories  of  the  Revolution,  the  grand  style,  namely  the  style 
consecrated  by  tradition,  was  the  only  one  for  literature  and  art ; those 
who  impugned  tradition  roused  a fury  in  their  breasts  which  allied 
itself  to  piety  and  caused  much  the  same  violence  that  the  true  believer, 
secure  in  his  certainty  that  every  other  thinker  is  the  child  of  the  devil, 
shows  to  a fellowman  who  is  not  of  his  persuasion.  Where  most  of 
Barye’s  biographers  fail  is  in  the  statement  or  the  insinuation  that  he 
suffered  from  dishonest  opposition.  In  these  early  years  his  opponents 
were  as  honest  as  the  Turk  who  puts  Jew,  Christian  and  Persian  sec- 
tary to  the  sword,  or  the  Catholic  who  consigns  a heretic  to  the  flames. 

There  is  no  beast  so  cruel  as  man  when  he  is  persuaded  that  he  alone 
knows  everything  and  contains  in  himself  all  the  good  in  the  world. 
Barye  in  fact  was  a fore-fighter  of  the  great  army  of  science  in  the  field 
of  art  and  for  many  years  was  a martyr  to  his  artistic  faith.  Neglect 
of  this  point,  which  was  brought  out  more  briefly  in  an  article  in 
The  Century  Magazine  of  New  York,*  has  caused  subsequent  writers 
on  Barye  to  re-echo  the  complaints  of  the  earlier  admirers  of  the  sculp- 
tor, who  were  scarcely  in  the  proper  position  to  estimate  forces  only 
visible  to  the  men  of  to-day  with  the  retrospect  of  the  century  behind 
them.  We  must  try  to  regard  Barye’s  misfortunes  as  due  more  to  the 
situation  and  less  to  personal  hatreds  and  rivalries ; more  to  his  envi- 
ronment and  less  to  any  special  injustice  directed  against  himself. 
Had  he  been  able  to  realize  this  more  clearly  it  would  have  spared  him 
much  bitterness  and  perhaps  been  the  means  of  gaining  him  a hearing 
in  the  middle  term  of  his  physical  and  mental  powers  instead  of  toward 
the  end  of  life.  That  would  have  been  a gain  in  glory  to  France.  She 
has  made  too  little  use  of  a genius  such  as  comes  but  once  in  centuries. 

But  it  is  a satisfaction  to  reflect  that  in  1831  at  the  age  of  thirty-five 
Barye  had  already  made  so  much  mark  on  the  world  that  his  work  was 
the  occasion  for  a great  deal  of  generous  and  acute  criticism  as  well  as 
much  violent  rebuke.  While  the  ferocity  of  his  tiger  startled  and  dis- 
mayed theorists  and  devotees  of  artistic  red-tape,  its  splendid  life  and 

* See  The  Century  Magazine  for  February,  1886,  by  Henry  Eckford  (C.  de  Kay). 


19 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


remorseless  truth  to  nature  gave  to  others  that  mental  gooseflesh  which 
tells  them  that  they  stand  before  a work  of  genius,  whether  it  be  a 
carved  cherry-pit  or  a Colossus  of  Rhodes. 

Gustave  Planche  was  then  his  admirer  and  remained  steadfast  to  his 
early  views.  In  the  volume  on  the  Salon  written  by  him  the  cnt  that 
shows  Barye’s  Tiger  Devouring  a Gavial  was  cut  after  the  pen  and  ink 
drawing  by  Barye.  It  is  strikingly  direct  and  simple,  recalling  the 
drawing  of  William  Blake,  but  not  Blake’s  animals.  There  is  a grandeur 
about  the  little  sketch  which  catches  the  eye  at  once.  Barye  indeed 
tried  his  hand  at  a number  of  things.  His  drawings  preparatory  to 
the  clay  model  are  interesting  for  their  patient  workmanship  and  big- 
ness. His  water-colors  are  in  some  cases  superb,  in  many  cases  fine, 
and  always  individual.  Examine  the  wood-cut  after  the  water-color  of 
a tiger  couchant  and  imagine  it  colored  in  good  strong  yellows.  His 
oils  are  sometimes  muddy,  or  have  become  so  with  time,  but  among 
them  are  capital  paintings  of  deer  and  other  beasts  on  a small  scale, 
as  well  as  landscapes  like  that  in  the  illustration.  He  engraved  his 
own  groups  on  stone,  and  occasionally  etched  the  copper  as  in  the  Stag 
Seized  by  a Cougar,  here  reproduced  on  wood.  He  was  many-sided, 
and  his  long  apprenticeship  to  jewelers  gave  him  a practical  knowledge 
of  the  means  to  achieve  perfection  in  statuettes  which  other  sculptors 
lacked. 


VII 

The  field  that  was  being  marked  out  for  Barye  by  circumstances  and 
natural  bent  offers  practical  difficulties  which  nothing  can  entirely 
overcome.  Fascinated  by  the  grace  and  terrible  charm  of  the  cat-like 
animals,  he  had  to  portray  them  in  bronze,  a rather  stern  uncompromis- 
ina'  material  that  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  imitation  of  fur  without  a 
great  deal  of  artistic  effort.  But  it  is  in  accord  with  an  artistic  nature  to 
seek  a difficult  mode  of  expressing  itself.  When  this  material  is  properly 
treated  it  has  a sober  magnificence  no  other  metal  can  show.  Gold  is  not 
a happy  medium  for  large  pieces ; silver  is  better  than  gold  but  not  half 


20 


o 


17.  Stag  Seized  by  Panther  (etching  by  Barye). 


* 


BEASTS  HARD  TO  DISTINGUISH 


so  fine  as  bronze.  Iron  has  the  great  advantages  of  flowing  better  than 
most  metals,  entering  every  cranny  of  the  mold  and  contracting  very 
little  when  it  cools.  But  iron  requires  a very  great  heat  to  melt  it ; 
moreover  it  rusts,  and  fashion  has  not  yet  set  its  stamp  on  that  metal. 
But  having  determined  on  bronze,  partly  because  its  warm  sober  solid 
look  appealed  to  his  own  character,  partly  because  bronzes  have  been 
the  fashion  these  many  centuries  among  amateurs,  the  question  arose 
how  to  imitate  color  in  bronze. 

With  regard  to  the  large  cats  it  is  a matter  of  no  ordinary  moment. 
Thus  the  leopard  ( Fells  pardusj  of  Asia  and  Africa  has  a skull  propor- 
tioned exactly  the  same  as  the  lion.  Now  the  male  lion,  provided  the 
ordinary  variety  is  sculptured,  can  be  told  by  its  mane.  But  how  is  the 
lioness  to  be  distinguished  from  the  leopard,  when  the  material  is  bronze 
and  there  is  nothing  to  show  clearly  the  relative  sizes  of  the  beasts  ? 
A painting  shows  at  once  the  difference  provided  the  leopard  is  of  the 
spotted  variety.  But  even  in  paintings  taken  from  the  life  the  leopard 
would  not  always  have  spots.  For  without  speaking  of  the  black 
leopards  of  Southern  India  and  Java  or  the  snow  leopard  which  bleaches 
out  almost  to  ivory  white,  there  are  leopards  of  colors  running  the  gamut 
between  black  and  white  on  which  the  spots  are  very  difficult  to  see.  So 
that  even  in  a painting  a leopard  might  be  mistaken  for  a lioness. 

The  tiger  again  is  not  readily  known  from  the  lioness  if  no  color 
is  allowed,  for  the  characteristic  difference  lies  in  the  stripes  of  the  tiger. 
In  our  own  land  a small  jaguar  is  difficult  to  distinguish  from  the  ocelot 
and  even  in  its  markings  is  very  like  the  spotted  leopards  of  the  old 
world.  The  latter’s  markings  on  back  and  sides  are  generally  in  bro- 
ken rings.  The  jaguar’s  are  rosettes  formed  of  blackish  petals  or  spots 
with  a central  spot.  The  jaguar  is  also  said  to  be  lower-built  and  more 
powerful  looking  than  the  leopard,  while  the  latter  stands  higher  on  its 
legs  and  has  a more  graceful  carriage.  But  in  animals  that  vary  so 
much  in  shape  as  well  as  coloration  in  the  same  litter  it  is  hard  to  es- 
tablish any  hard  and  fast  rule.  The  American  puma  or  cougar,  called 
by  the  European  name  of  panther,  and  sometimes  by  trappers  mountain- 


21 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


lion  or  American  tiger,  is  not  spotted  as  a rule  in  the  adult  state ; its 
cubs  are  spotted.  It  is  commonly  of  a solid  fawn  color  with  white 
belly,  yet  black  individuals  have  been  killed.  Some  naturalists  think 
that  it  can  be  distinguished  from  a jaguar  in  which  the  rosettes  are  ob- 
scure by  its  longer  tail  and  by  the  fact  that  the  jaguar  has  relatively  a 
broader  head.  But  these  distinctions  are  not  always  trustworthy. 
They  are  inconspicuous  enough  when  the  beast  is  done  into  clay,  marble 
or  bronze. 

Hence  arises  a difficulty  in  deciding  which  great  cat  Barye  meant  in 
a given  group ; for  it  may  as  well  be  premised  that  most  of  the  cata- 
logues, essays  and  lives  of  Barye  and  his  works  err  more  or  less 
flagrantly  in  the  nomenclature  of  animals. 

In  the  first  place  our  guide  is  the  other  animal  with  which  the  cat 
is  in  conflict,  supposing  the  group  to  be  one  of  the  vast  number  of 
combats.  If  that  animal  belongs  to  America  its  assailant  can  not  be 


beast  of  prey.  Doubtless  even  the  tiger  roams  in  summer  through 
China  far  enough  north  to  seize  an  elk  in  Mongolia.  Distinctions  in 
the  deer  tribes  are  yet  more  difficult.  Besides  the  moose  we  have  the 
Wapiti  or  American  elk  (Germs  Canadensis ) the  common  deer  (Germs 


lion,  tiger  or  true  leopard.  If  it  is 
an  elephant  examine  the  ears,  brow 
and  back  to  see  whether  it  is  the 
Asian  or  the  African.  The  Asian 
elephant  has  relatively  small  ears 
and  tusks  compared  with  the  Afri- 
can ; its  back  is  curved  upwards 
and  its  brow  is  straight,  while  the 
African  elephant  has  a brow  curved 
outward  and  a hollow  back. 


Elephant  op  Senegal  Running. 
Bronze.  Height,  5J4  inches. 


No.  86. 


An  elk  or  as  we  call  it  a moose, 
has  so  wide  a range  that  it  may  be 
attacked  by  a North  American,  or 
a North  European,  or  North  Asian 


22 


WAYS  OF  IDENTIFYING  BEASTS 


Virginianus ) and  the  black-tailed  deer  of  Missouri,  so  called,  which  are  all 
larger  animals  than  the  stag  of  the  red  deer  of  Europe.  The  moose  or  elk 
of  both  continents  we  tell  by  its  heavy  muzzle  and  great  spade-shaped 
antlers;  the  American  elk  by  its  heavy  antlers,  not  palmated;  and  our 
common  stag  by  its  relatively  light  head  of  horns  compared  with  the 
body.  The  red  deer  of  Europe  supplies  the  common  hart  of  illustra- 
tions, varying  greatly  in  the  number  of  points  to  its  antlers,  from  three 
or  more  to  twelve,  when  it  is  a ‘royal  stag’  in  Scotland,  but  often  show- 
ing twice  or  thrice  that  number  in  Eastern  Europe.  The  fallow  deer  is 
a quarter  smaller;  the  buck  may  be  distinguished  in  art  from  the  red 
deer  by  its  palmated  antlers  when  three  years  old.  This  is  the  French 
daim,  female  daine.  It  is  kept  in  deer  forests.  But  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  the  commoner  inhabitant  of  private  parks  is  the  charming 
little  roe  deer,  the  buck  of  which  is  only  about  two  feet  high  at  the 
shoulder,  though  some  owners  possess  large  herds  of  the  fallow  deer 
also.  In  all  these  animals  the  male  alone  carries  horns  and  as  a rule  he 
sheds  them  once  a year. 

These  details  may  be  of  use  to  owners  of  bronzes  by  Barye  who  have 
lost  the  names  attaching  to  them  or  have  received  mistaken  names  for 
them.  He  was  careful  as  a rule  not  to  bring  together  animals  that  live 
far  apart,  but  in  some  cases  like  that  of  the  two  bears  fighting  (1833)  the 
scene  is  the  bear-pit  rather  than  the  forest  and  the  fighters  are  from 
America  and  India.  Sometimes  he  helps  us  out  by  certain  artifices  that 
do  not  detract  from  the  dignity  of  the  bronze.  Thus  the  tiger  is  gener- 
ally set  apart  from  lioness  or  panther  by  the  stripes  Barye  has  indicated 
by  channels  on  the  bronze.  His  leopard  is  in  some  cases  distinguished 
by  broken  rings  over  its  back  and  sides.  An  alligator  can  be  told  from 
a crocodile  by  its  proportions,  having  a much  shorter  head  and  blunter 
snout  and  its  hind  feet  very  little  webbed.  With  the  great  snakes  the 
distinctions  are  hard  to  observe.  True  boa  constrictors  only  exist  in 
South  America.  Where  the  animal  in  contact  with  a constrictor  is  of 
an  African  species  we  may  understand  the  python  or  rock  snake  of 
that  land  which  does  not  ecpial  in  size  the  anaconda  of  Brazil. 


23 


Chapter  Two 

I 

quarrel  between  the  old  and  the  new  had  reached  a head  in 
30.  No  one,  but  least  of  all  the  artists  and  young  artisans 
Paris  who  thronged  the  cafes  and  lived  an  out-door  Latin 
life  we  can  hardfy  realize,  could  escape  the  excitement.  "We  have  seen 
how  Barye  took  from  the  scientific  stir  of  his  age  the  tendency  toward  a 
branch  of  sculpture  overlooked  by  others  and  despised  by  amateurs  and 
art-critics.  We  may  fairly  discover  in  the  turbulence  of  this  epoch  the 
origin  of  Barye’s  predilection  for  combats  between  animals,  his  ap- 
parent love  of  carnage.  The  certainty  of  the  Struggle  for  Existence 
toward  which  science  was  gropingmust  have  been  the  deeper  influence; 
the  violence  of  party  strife  and  the  clash  of  old  beliefs  and  new  gave 
the  more  superficial  impulse. 

It  was  something  very  different  from  the  love  of  a fight  which  keeps 
up  the  existence  of  cock-fights,  dog-fights  and  even  bear-baitings  in 
America,  and  of  bull-fights  in  Spain  and  South  America.  One  may 


24 


No.  19.  A.  L.  Barte  at  35;  after  a lithograph  by  Gigoux. 


THE  LION  CRUSHING  A SERPENT 


say  that  in  Barye’s  case  it  was  even  a different  thing  from  the  fashion 
among  French  painters  to  devise  scenes  of  martyrdom  in  which  blood 
and  torn  limbs  are  far  more  prominent  than  is  needful.  A nearer 
analogy  would  be  the  bestiaries  or  beast-books  of  the  medieevals  in 
which,  under  the  disguise  of  animals,  human  beings  were  satirized. 
Barye  was  not  a satirist,  fortunately  for  the  prolonged  enjoyment  of 
his  works,  unfortunately  for  his  immediate  fame  and  fortunes;  but 
he  had  his  own  way  of  reflecting  in  sculptures  the  ideas  of  the  period, 
a far  higher  and  more  artistic  way,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  than  if,  as  a 
professed  satirist,  he  had  crudely  and  boldly  attempted  to  hold  the 
mirror  up  to  the  world. 

It  was  borne  along  these  two  main  currents,  the  scientific  and  the 
sociological,  that  the  young  assistant  of  a jeweler  drove  onward  to  his 
appointed  task.  A smaller  artist  but  a bolder  satirist  might  have  typi- 
fied the  classicist  as  the  hide-bound  Crocodile  and  the  Romantic  School 
as  the  Tiger  which  held  its  old  enemy  in  its  powerful  young  embrace 
and  intended  never  to  loosen  its  hold.  But  we  get  no  inkling  that  such 
was  Barye’s  purpose  when  he  modeled  the  group.  If  he  had  any  such 
idea  he  was  wise  enough  to  know  that  in  reward  for  a temporary  noto- 
riety he  would  be  abused  by  the  one  party  and  soon  forgot  by  the  other. 
And  he  may  have  reasoned  that  in  such  allusions  there  is  always  a 
certain  crudeness  when  they  occur  in  plastic  art,  being  better  fitted  for 
literature.  When  they  do  appear  in  painting  and  sculptures  they  are 
practised  by  unbalanced  men  like  Wiertz  of  Brussels. 

There  was  temptation  to  attach  to  his  great  success  of  1833  a mean- 
ing of  somewhat  similar  nature,  namely  his  Lion  Crushing  a Serpent, 
which  was  at  the  Salon  of  that  year  and  fixed  forever  the  name  of 
Barye  as  the  greatest  of  animaliers.  There  is  a shade  of  contempt  in 
that  word  which  we  would  not  feel  in  English,  because  in  French 
‘ animal’  is  a somewhat  abusive  term  when  applied  to  man,  analogous  to 
the  vulgar  use  among  the  Germans  of  the  words  Ochs,  Rind,  Yieh,  Schaf 
for  the  minor  terms  of  opprobrium  during  anger,  and  to  our  vulgarisms 
in  calling  people  donkey  or  ass.  Thus  Barye  was  an  animalier  because 


4 


25 


LIFE  OF  BAB YE  THE  SCULPTOB 


he  made  so  many  statues  of  beasts,  but  the  persons  who  called  him  so 
always  meant  it  in  an  injurious  sense,  as  a taunt  rather  than  a definition. 
But  there  is  this  always  to  remember.  A taunting  name  is  often  taken 
up  by  those  to  whom  it  is  applied  and  made  the  symbol  of  the  ideal 
toward  which  they  strive  and  the  glory  of  their  party.  Such  were  and 
are  the  Beggars  of  the  Netherlands,  the  Tories  of  Ireland,  the  Mug- 
wumps of  recent  American  politics.  So  the  word  animalier  has  through 
Barye  become  almost  a title  of  distinction  and  would  be  in  all  likeli- 
hood accepted  without  a murmur  by  Fremiet  and  Cain  in  France, 
Edward  Kemeys  and  Paul  Bartlett  in  America,  were  it  not  that  the 
term  also  implies  and  might  by  some  be  thought  to  imply  a lack  of 
power  to  express  the  human  figure. 

The  year  1833  was  the  turning-point  of  Barye’s  career,  if  we  regard 
1831  with  its  superb  Tiger  Devouring  a Gavial  as  the  point  when  his 
steady  ill-luck  made  a pause.  Extraordinary  creative  life  possessed  him 
at  this  period,  so  that  he  let  the  world  see  too  many  of  his  pieces  at 
once,  and  thus  occasioned  the  very  natural  thought  that  works  of  art, 
produced  with  apparent  ease  in  such  profusion,  could  not  be  as  valuable 
as  sculpture  slowly  wrought.  In  1832  he  exhibited  in  plaster  the  group 
that  was  to  change  his  fate  from  a youth  of  marked  promise  to  a sculp- 
tor either  famous  or  notorious  as  the  case  might  be.  It  was  the  Lion 
Crushing  a Serpent,  placed  later  in  bronze  on  the  Avenue  des  Feuillants 
in  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries.  The  Minister  of  the  Interior  owned  at 
this  time  a proof  of  the  same  group,  which  differs  in  essential  particu- 
lars from  the  public  statue  and  yet  is  not  the  little  study  with  the  paw 
of  the  lion  raised  to  strike.  No  second  was  ever  made. 

The  year  before  (1831)  Barye  was  still  casting  bronze  bas-reliefs  of 
small  size,  generally  square,  which  are  apparently  designed  for  orna- 
ments to  clocks  or  pieces  of  furniture.  At  the  time  they  had  no  higher 
purpose,  whilst  now  they  are  carefully  framed  as  works  of  art  and 
fetch  very  respectable  sums  in  the  market  when  they  can  be  had 
authentic.  Such  are  the  profile  leopard,  panther,  running  stag,  and 
genet-cat  dragging  bird,  each  of  the  four  signed  and  dated  1831. 


26 


NO.  20. 

HART  SEIZED  BY  TWO  SCOTCH  HOUNDS 


INFLUENCE  OF  NAPOLEON  ON  THE  ARTS 


It  may  be  noted  here  that  as  late  as  1847  he  was  producing  small  bronzes, 
avowedly  for  ornamenting  the  clocks  of  offices  and  private  houses ; some 
merely  as  bronzes  to  lay  on  the  top  of  a clock,  others  to  affix  to  the  front 
and  sides.  By  the  year  1832  he  had  become  a favorite  with  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  heir  apparent  to  the  throne. 

The  display  that  lie  made  in  1833  was  so  large  and  varied  that  nobody 
could  overlook  its  importance,  everybody  had  to  come  out  with  an  opinion 
for  or  against  the  sculptor.  When  reading  the  jeremiads  of  French  ad- 
mirers we  must  never  forget  the  situation.  Napoleon  the  Great  had 
been  in  many  ways  an  antagonist,  if  not  a traitor  to  the  ideas  of  democ- 
racy to  which  he  owed  his  elevation.  A parvenu  to  the  throne,  he  had 
to  force  the  exclusive  ranks  of  kings,  and  once  an  emperor,  he  had  to 
build  up  again  the  structure  of  society  that  permits  an  emperor  of  the 
old  kind  to  exist  in  safety.  The  aristocratic  revivals  by  Napoleon  were 
endless.  Beginning  with  his  own  consort  and  the  fabric  of  his  court, 
it  extended  from  the  social  fabric  directly  to  the  artistic  world,  because 
the  latter  depends  immediately  upon  the  former.  Precedents  to  sanc- 
tion what  he  had  done  might  be  found  in  the  careers  of  Julius  Csesar, 
for  instance,  or  of  Alexander  the  Great.  It  was  no  wonder  then,  that 
during  his  reign  literature  and  art  should  be  profoundly  encouraged 
to  revert  to  the  ancients,  and  that  all  his  power  was  thrown  to  the 
advantage  of  those  who  looked  to  the  past,  but  against  innovators 
who  were  inspired  by  the  scientific  air  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived. 
His  brutal  treatment  of  the  great  naturalist  Lamarck  is  a case  in  point. 

Barye’s  time  fell  in  with  that  of  other  men  who  in  literature  and 
art  as  well  as  politics  gave  their  lives  and  sometimes  their  blood 
to  the  struggle  against  a tyranny  which  began  again  under  Napoleon 
I,  but  by  no  means  ceased  with  his  consignment  to  the  peak  of  St. 
Helena.  When  therefore  in  the  Journal  des  Debats  M.  Delescluze 
ranked  the  Tiger  and  Gavial  of  1831  above  the  works  of  Marochetti 
it  was  a heresy  sufficiently  grave;  but  when  he  also  affirmed  that  it 
surpassed  the  work  sent  by  David  d’Angers,  the  celebrated  and  justly 
celebrated  sculptor  David,  amateurs  felt  that  if  this  were  true  an 


LIFE  OF  BAB YE  THE  SCULPTOR 


artistic  earthquake  was  at  hand  in  sculpture.  We  may  be  sure  how- 
ever that  the  greater  number  of  them  set  the  remark  down  to  the  same 
fanaticism,  sprung  of  the  politics  of  the  time,  that  affected  to  admire  the 
frantic  daubs  of  Delacroix.  An  earthquake  nevertheless  it  was ; a 
forerunner  of  the  heavier  shock  of  1833. 

The  Salon  of  that  year  accepted  the  vigorous  statuette  of  a stag 
borne  down  by  two  Scotch  hounds,  the  Cavalier  of  the  Fifteenth  Cen- 
tury, and  the  equestrian  King  Charles  VI  Frightened  in  the  Forest 
of  Mans,  pieces  that  mark  the  width  of  Barye’s  range  and  in  all 
probability  earned  for  him  the  patronage  of  yet  other  great  persons 
whose  favor  was  not  always  to  his  advantage,  given  the  jealousy 
which  the  democrats  felt  for  pretenders  and  heirs  to  the  throne. 
The  Charles  VI  was  cast  in  bronze  by  the  wax  process  for  Princess 
Marie  of  Orleans.  He  also  sent  a bust  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

The  stag  chase  appealed  to  the  aristocracy  who,  even  under  the  new 
republic,  preserve  the  traditions  of  the  hunt  in  a land  that  seems  to  the 
tourist  so  highly  cultivated  that  there  could  scarcely  exist  anything  to 
be  hunted  larger  or  more  ferocious  than  a hare.  As  a matter  of  fact 
not  only  the  stag  but  the  wild  boar  is  hunted  in  France,  the  wolf  exists 
and  the  bear  is  not  unknown,  neither  is  the  Alpine  goat. 

But  these  were  not  the  most  important  sendings  of  Barye  that  year. 
There  was  the  charming  little  Elephant  of  Asia,  a dead  gazelle  which 
brought  tears  into  the  eyes  of  sensitive  persons,  a bear  of  the  Alps 
and  a Russian  bear,  a combat  between  a Bruin  of  India  and  one  of  our 
American  black  bears,  and  a magnificent  little  statuette  in  plaster  of  a 
horse  of  powerful  breed,  not  a wild  variety,  upon  whose  back  a lion  has 
alighted  with  a spring,  all  of  the  action  of  which  is  told  in  its  flying 
flanks  and  tail.  There  was  a lion  in  plaster  and  a bear  overthrown  by 
mastiffs  shown  in  the  later  illustrations  here. 

Barye  was  but  thirty-seven,  yet  here  was  the  whole  gamut  of  his 
genius  struck  with  a power  and  furious  vigor,  with  a gentleness  and 
humor,  with  a tender  sentiment  in  the  dead  gazelle  that  moved  men  to 
tears,  with  a knowledge  of  mediaeval  dress  rare  among  antiquarians  of 


28 


LEPHANT  OF  ASIA  RUNNING 


AT  THE  JAKDIN  DES  PLANTES 


the  period,  with  a comprehensive  instinct  for  grouping,  and  a skill  in 
fashioning  man,  domestic  animals  and  wild  beasts  down  to  the  minutest 
details,  that  no  artist  of  any  age,  of  any  nation  before  or  since  his  time 
has  ever  surpassed. 

Here  was  a showing  that  would  have  almost  justified  any  sculptor  in 
taking  from  that  time  forth  a position  of  proud  aloofness,  an  attitude 
of  indifference  to  criticism.  It  will  be  seen  that  Barye  never  presumed 
to  hold  such  a position.  He  must  have  known  his  own  genius.  But 
the  testimony  of  Americans  who  knew  him  well  during  the  last  decades 
of  his  life  goes  to  prove  that  the  reserve  which  was  always  his  charac- 
teristic was  a natural  one,  that  he  was  a singularly  modest  man,  and 
that  only  on  the  rarest  occasions  did  he  let  fall  a word  which  showed 
he  knew — what  indeed  he  could  not  fail  to  know  — his  own  genius. 

II 

The  Salon  of  1833  accepted  also  a frame  of  medallions  and  no  less 
than  six  water  colors,  which  testify  how  he  had  employed  his  time  dur- 
ing the  years  that  had  failed  to  bring  him  into  notice.  There  were 
careful  drawings  of  Bengal  tigers,  Cape  lions,  Peruvian  jaguars.  There 
was  a tiger  devouring  a horse,  a panther  of  Morocco  and  one  from  India. 
These  had  been  studied  at  the  Jardiu  des  Plantes,  at  traveling  menag- 
eries, or  wherever  else  Baiye  could  learn  of  great  cats  in  their  melancholy 
confinement. 

The  Jardin  is  a delightful  spot  at  a distance  from  the  busiest  parts 
of  Paris,  whither  nurse-maids  take  the  children  and  families  of  citizens 
come  to  while  away  the  morning  of  a holiday.  At  present  there  is 
little  chance  of  interruption  by  friends  of  the  artistic  or  literary 
worlds,  and  in  Barye’s  early  days  there  was  far  less.  Here  he  would 
sit  on  a bench  to  watch  the  action  of  the  beasts  at  feeding  time  and 
strive  to  catch  with  crayon  the  movements  natural  to  them,  after- 
wards putting  in  the  color,  which  with  him,  unlike  Delacroix,  was  a 
secondary  consideration,  so  far  as  the  sketches  are  concerned.  Sorne- 


29 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


times  he  pulled  from  his  pocket  a lump  of  wax  and  made  a rough  sketch 
of  a head  or  caught  the  angry  or  the  amorous  curl  of  a tail. 

It  was  such  childish,  such  antediluvian  practises  as  this  that  gave  to 
hands  drilled  by  the  hard  labor  with  the  jewelers  and  military  ornament 
makers  that  marvelous  rapidity  which  is  needful  to  seize  the  movement 
of  animals.  It  is  Barye  who  has  taught  us  to  see  the  enormous  size  of 
the  feet  of  tigers  and  panthers.  They  have  always  been  large.  But 
the  painters  and  sculptors  of  lions  and  tigers,  taking  counsel  with  them- 
selves as  to  the  canons  of  grace  in  modern  times,  have  almost  always 
made  the  extremities  small,  even  smaller  than  those  of  the  domestic  cat, 
whose  feet  need  not  be  large  because  its  food  consists  of  little  birds  and 
rodents.  Barye  reminds  us  that  the  panther,  for  instance,  has  feet  of 
unusual  bigness,  considering  the  graceful  movements  of  which  it  is  capa- 
ble. The  Greeks  did  not  lessen  the  real  size  of  feet  and  hands  either 
with  animals  or  men.  The  statuette  groups  from  Ionia  show  the  lion 
with  enormous  paws.  As  a rule  men  and  women  in  Greek  sculpture 
have  feet  and  hands  of  a size  that  moderns  dare  not  suggest. 

But  Barye  was  not  content  with  a knowledge  of  animals  from  the  out- 
side. He  attended  such  lectures  on  anatomy  as  he  might ; when  they 
could  be  had,  he  dissected  wild  beasts  that  died  in  captivity.  He  tried 
to  realize  how  the  great  rough  processes  on  the  bones  of  a lion  held  the 
enormous  muscles  fast,  and  what  the  result  was  when  the  beast  used 
them  to  lance  itself  through  the  air.  The  fur  was  studied  for  its  pecu- 
liarities. What  becomes  of  its  planes,  Barye  asked  himself,  when  the 
animal  lies  curled  up  in  sleep,  or  stretches  itself  on  awakening,  or  grap- 
ples with  its  enemies,  or  stands  growling  and  alert  over  its  quarry? 
Any  cat  or  dog  will  be  seen  to  present  peculiarities  of  this  sort,  but 
bears,  panthers  and  beasts  having  abundant  fur  and  skins  loosely  con- 
nected with  the  flesh  often  show  much  stronger  changes  in  the  lay  and 
folding  of  their  hides.  All  these  were  subjects  for  Barye  to  ponder. 
While  doing  so  we  may  well  imagine  those  firm  lips  of  his  to  have  set- 
tled more  and  more  into  the  strong  lines  of  concentration  that  steady 
thought  usually  carves  about  the  mouth. 


30 


NO.  22. 

HORSE  SURPRISED  BY  YOUNG  LION 
Height  inches 


HIS  FIKST  PUBLIC  STATUE 


III 

This  year  of  1833  is  memorable  in  the  life  of  Barye  for  one  thing  more 
important  than  any  mentioned  before.  It  saw  his  first  commission  for 
a public  statue  realized.  A lion  with  one  great  paw  clutching  a serpent 
and  lips  raised  from  the  enormous  canine  teeth  in  a growl  marked 
itself  out  from  all  the  other  sculpture  of  1832  as  fitted  for  erection  the 
size  of  life  on  some  square  or  in  some  public  garden  of  Paris. 

The  modeling  of  the  lion  was  intense  with  reality,  and  though  the 
act  of  destroying  another  animal  much  its  inferior  in  strength  was  not 
exaetty  fitted  to  the  character  given  the  king  of  beasts  by  the  men  of 
the  middle  ages,  yet  mankind  has  such  an  instinctive  antipathy  to 
the  snake,  Christians,  Moslems  and  Jews  are  so  filled  with  a hatred 
of  the  snake  as  the  symbol  of  wickedness  and  betrayal,  that  the  true 
animality  of  the  lion’s  action  was  overlooked  by  those  who  might  object 
to  realism,  were  that  aspect  of  the  matter  presented  to  their  minds.  The 
serpent,  lying  helpless  beneath  the  wide  soft  paw  for  the  greater  part  of 
its  length,  doubles  back  on  itself  and  opens  its  jaws  in  hopeless  menace. 
For  it  is  of  the  python  variety  that  lives  in  Africa  and  has  no  poison  fangs 
wherewith  to  sell  its  life  for  that  of  its  destroyer.  The  hind  feet  of  the 
lion  are  expressive  too ; in  the  act  of  seizing  something  the  saber-like  nails 
on  the  forefeet  flash  out  to  their  greatest  length  from  ambush  in  the  folds 
and  long  hair  of  the  paw,  while  those  of  the  hind  feet  start  half-way  out 
in  sympathy  with  the  others. 

There  is  a variant  on  this  group  reproduced  in  the  artotype  in  which 
the  left  hind  leg  has  caught  part  of  the  serpent,  while  the  forefoot, 
instead  of  being  on  the  serpent,  is  lifted  high  in  air  at  the  instant  of 
smiting  the  reptile,  just  as  a kitten  will  draw  oft  to  strike  at  its  play- 
mate in  sport  or  in  anger.  It  is  a vivid  little  group,  extremely  clever  in 
its  way,  but  it  does  not  possess  the  seriousness,  nor  the  quality  of  repose 
which  is  needed  for  a large  statue.  Whether  it  was  a study  for  the 
great  statue  or  an  after-thought  I do  not  know. 


31 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


Luckily  for  Barye  and  the  world  the  government  bought  his  Lion 
Crushing  the  Serpent,  those  responsible  for  the  purchase  thinking  to 
themselves,  it  may  be,  that  here  was  a symbolical  group  in  which  their 
party  was  the  lion,  the  malcontents  the  serpent.  It  was  lucky,  because, 
although  the  statue  was  not  placed  in  any  conspicuous  spot,  but  on  the 
contrary  in  a somewhat  secluded  corner  of  the  Tuileries,  where  few 
people  were  apt  to  come,  yet  it  stood  where  a connoisseur  could  feel 
some  of  its  beauty  and  experience  a little  of  that  strange  mixture  of 
remorselessness,  realism  and  good  taste  in  art  which  is  found  in  many 
of  the  sculptor’s  works.  The  spot  was  not  too  complimentary;  the 
group  was  placed  at  a height  unstated  for  examination,  being  consider- 
ably too  high  for  the  best  view  of  it ; yet  at  least  there  was  one  place  in 
Paris  where  the  great  innovator  could  be  seen  and  after  a fashion 
judged. 

Another  piece  of  good  luck  for  Barye  was  the  casting.  It  was  done 
by  a famous  bronze-founder  named  Honore  Gonon  whose  sons  were  also 
skilled  in  the  art,  and  the  process  is  that  called  d cire  perdue , because  the 
model  is  wrought  in  wax  and  covered  with  a thick  coat  of  plaster  and 
then  subjected  to  heat.  The  wax  runs  off,  leaving  every  delicate  line 
made  by  the  sculptor’s  boaster  exactly  reproduced  in  the  mold.  Observe 
in  the  wood-cut  of  this  group  how  the  hair  of  mane  and  tail  has  been 
shown  in  the  bronze.  Or  examine  the  plaster  cast  at  the  Museum 
in  Central  Park,  New  York.  If  the  bronzeman  is  an  expert  he  will 
know  how  to  fill  every  such  fine  inward  dent  in  the  mold  with  bronze 
of  the  best  cpiality,  unblemished  by  air  bubbles,  and  so  perfect 
that  the  slow  and  unsatisfactory  chiseling  of  the  cast  shall  not  be 
needed.  The  process  requires  great  skill  and  is,  or  used  to  be,  very 
expensive.  Fortunate  was  Barye  in  these  points,  if  in  few  others. 

Life  had  indeed  begun  to  smile  for  the  young  sculptor,  already  married 
and  a father,  but  very  far  from  having  escaped  the  ills  and  ignominies 
of  poverty.  After  such  rebuffs  as  he  had  won  ten  years  earlier  from  the 
Salon  it  was  a subject  for  congratulation  to  have  them  accept  so  many 
groups,  figures,  water  colors  and  medallions.  But  to  have  a group  bought 


32 


No.  23.  Tiger  Bolling  (water-color).  Walters  Collection, 


CHEVALIER  OF  THE  LEGION  OF  HONOR 


by  government  for  a public  site  was  enough  to  turn  his  head.  Close  on 
the  heels  of  this  success  came  the  decoration  as  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor  with  the  coveted  right  to  wear  a small  end  of  red  ribbon  in  the 
buttonhole,  at  sight  of  which  the  ubiquitous  French  sentry  is  bound  to 
present  arms.  Many  other  attentions  and  conveniences  are  offered  to 
the  wearer  of  the  red  ribbon.  The  Prince  of  the  blood  was  his  patron  as 
well  as  the  Princess  Marie,  for  to  the  Prince  Royal  went  that  jovial 
little  statuette  the  Bear  in  its  Trough,  which  M.  Barbedienne  has 
cast  in  bronze  and  popularized  in  copies  that  retain  a good  deal  of 
Barye’s  power.  Patronage  in  high  places  was  about  to  cause  Barye  to 
undertake  some  of  the  most  notable  groups  he  ever  produced,  groups, 
in  the  opinion  of  some  critics,  which  have  never  been  surpassed  bv  their 
maker  but  which  also  gained  him  enemies  for  artistic  reasons  of  the 
base  sort  and  enemies  by  the  way  of  politics. 

Meantime  the  Lion  Crushing  the  Serpent  was  duly  cast  by  Gonon  and 
his  two  sons  (1835)  and  placed  in  the  Tuileries  gardens  hard  by  the 
Avenue  des  Feuillants  where  you  look  down  from  the  terrace  upon  the 
hard  clean  lines  of  the  quays  of  the  Seine.  There  it  has  stood  while  one 
party  after  another  has  arisen  to  call  itself  the  lion  and  brand  its 
opposition  with  the  name  of  serpent.  At  the  Universal  Exposition  of 
1889  in  Paris  a cast  from  it  was  given  a very  conspicuous  place  and 
another  has  crossed  the  sea  to  be  treasured  as  the  gift  of  the  French 
Government  to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  New  York. 


IV 

The  angry  sneer  of  a sculptor  of  the  period : ‘ What ! are  the  Tui- 
leries to  become  a menagerie?’  sets  the  text  for  much  of  the  ill-success 
befalling  Barye  during  the  next  twenty  years.  The  reasons  were  many 
why  artists  and  others  who  might  have  been  expected  to  admire  were  in 
the  ranks  of  the  indifferent  or  the  hostile.  The  conservatives  in  art, 
literature,  politics,  religion,  were  in  general  averse  to  such  a new 
departure  as  the  elevation  of  animals  to  a level  with  man  and  the 


5 


33 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


exhibition  of  their  tragedies,  apart  from  man’s  aid  or  enmity,  in 
sculpture  as  serious  and  materials  as  rich  as  those  used  for  the  lords 
of  creation. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  animal  in  the  Tuileries  group  that  angered 
some  observers,  and  they  the  most  learned,  the  pi-ofessionals,  in  fact,  on 
whose  words  even  the  professed  critics  of  art  had  to  hang  with  respect. 
The  sculptor  who  uttered  that  indignant  witticism  was  most  probably 
willing  enough  to  see  the  Tuileries  peopled  with  groups  of  animals  on 
condition  that  they  were  modeled  according  to  the  canons  in  art  pro- 
fessed by  himself,  his  masters  and  fellow-workmen.  What  he  really 
meant  was  a refusal  to  accept,  not  the  presence  of  animal  statuary  in 
the  Tuileries,  but  animals  fashioned  as  Barye  modeled  them.  His  dis- 
like was  for  the  way  in  which  Barye  composed,  the  method  he  used  for 
indicating  mane  and  shorter  fur.  It  was  a hatred  for  technical  reasons 
translated  into  a witticism  which  could  be  understood  by  the  laity. 

Barye  had  not  modeled  the  mane  and  fur  of  his  lion  according  to 
rules.  There  is  a look  of  slovenliness  to  those  trained  in  other 
methods  about  the  big  flocks  of  hair  which  to  us  seem  so  admirably 
expressive  of  the  rude  vigor  of  a lion.  But  we  have  learned  to  accept 
abroad  treatment  of  sculpture.  We  have  been  broken  into  the  idea 
by  learning  to  appreciate  broad  treatment  in  painting.  Modern  painters 
have  gone  beyond  Delacroix  in  scorn  of  form  and  extravagance  of 
coloration.  M.  Auguste  Rodin  has  gone  beyond  Barye,  Preault  and 
Rude  in  a suggestive  sculpture  that  employs  planes  and  masses  where 
classicals  insist  that  fair  curves  and  delicate  precise  outlines  should  be 
found.  The  men  of  generalizations  have  carried  their  banner  against 
the  array  of  particularists  and  won  many  a hard  fought  battle  without 
gaining  such  a victory  as  would  settle  the  question  forever.  We  may 
set  against  the  sneer  of  the  sculptor  the  remark  that  Rousseau  the  land- 
scapist made  to  his  pupil  Letronne  about  this  very  group  of  Lion  and 
Serpent : 

‘ The  magnificent  lion  of  Barye  which  is  in  the  Tuileries  has  all  his 
fur  much  more  truly  than  if  the  sculptor  had  modeled  it  hair  by  hair.’ 


34 


24.  Lion  Crushing  Serpent.  Tuilf-ries. 
Bronze.  Height,  4 feet  2 inches. 


ADVANCE  TO  A BROADER  MODELING 


Yet  this  breadth  in  Barye’s  work  had  not  come  to  him  easily  or  at 
once.  We  have  only  to  examine  the  Tiger  Attacking  a Gavial  of  the 
Ganges  to  perceive  that  in  1830,  when  it  was  wrought  out  by  the 
sculptor,  Barye  was  still  in  the  toils  of  the  parti cularists,  still  wasting 
much  force  in  unnecessary  details  which  not  only  wearied  the  maker 
but  the  beholder,  if  the  latter  had  a true  understanding  of  the  aims  of 
art.  The  ground  about  the  struggling  beasts  is  sown  with  small 
trivial  objects,  vegetable  and  otherwise,  that  break  it  up  and  extort 
from  the  ignorant  the  pleasure  that  they  feel  in  laboriousness,  but 
from  the  wise,  pity  for  a useless  expenditure  of  work.  The  animals 
share  this  trait.  They  are  modeled  with  anxiety  rather  than  with 
that  easy  sweeping  power  which  Barye  rose  to  in  the  Lion  Crushing 
the  Serpent  and  to  still  greater  power  at  a later  period.  The  poses 
are  artificial  beyond  any  other  group. 

I do  not  wish  to  imply  that  the  group  is  not  wonderful  and  admi- 
rable in  almost  every  way,  but  if  it  have  a fault  it  lies  in  this  excessive 
attention  to  detail.  Perhaps  it  was  fortunate  that  Barye  did  not  model 
them  on  big  planes  and  with  the  rush  of  the  impressionist.  It  is  always 
possible,  given  a silent  man  of  his  known  character,  that  he  already 
knew  enough  in  1830  to  prefer  the  broader  handling,  but  as  a wise 
man  made  certain  concessions  to  the  inveterate  prejudice  of  his  judges 
and  gave  them  such  modeling  as  they  could  appreciate.  Certainly  two 
years  later  we  find  him  emancipated.  It  is  also  nearly  certain  that  a 
good  many  very  small  objects  in  bronze  that  show  the  same  breadth 
of  treatment  should  be  placed  during  his  later  ’prentice  years  with 
Fauconnier  the  jeweler. 

He  was  not  without  advice,  however,  that  the  Tiger  Attacking  the 
Gavial  might  have  been  improved  by  less  anxiety  as  to  details,  by  the 
suppression  of  a lot  of  unimportant  matters  which  divert  and  confuse 
the  eye.  An  anonymous  critic  in  the  press  who  turned  out  to  be  Gus- 
tave Planche  urged  the  point.  The  question  we  have  to  decide  is, 
whether  or  not  Barye  really  needed  the  advice.  He  seems  to  have 
heeded  it.  But  as  we  have  just  seen,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 


35 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


criticism  was  less  in  the  nature  of  a truth  revealed  than  an  utterance 
which  emboldened  the  sculptor  to  assert  what  he  had  already  discovered 
for  himself  and  to  some  extent  put  in  action. 

We  may  think  of  Barye  at  this  period  as  flushed  with  courage  as  he 
stands  on  the  brink  of  a great  career,  admired  by  the  strongest  men  of 
the  young  school  of  landscapists  just  beginning  their  work,  applauded 
by  the  cleverest,  most  original  men  of  the  press,  receiving  orders  from 
the  royal  family  and  great  aristocrats  — and  cordially  detested  by  the 
old  school  in  art,  by  the  envious  and  by  the  devout.  In  external  things 
Paris  is  so  Latin  that  we  find  it  a contradiction  when  we  learn  that 
Baiye,  who  was  always  taciturn,  frequented  cafes  and  belonged  to  what 
we  may  loosely  call  dining  clubs  composed  of  friends  and  comrades 
somewhat  alike  in  aims.  Stories  are  told  of  Barye  which  exhibit  him 
in  the  light  of  a bad-tempered  and  sharp-tongued  man ; others  that  give 
the  impression  that  he  hid  himself  away  from  his  fellowmen  and  passed 
a large  part  of  his  time  in  gloomy  meditation.  They  serve  well  enough 
to  put  spice  into  a hasty  composition  for  the  daily  press,  but  they  repose 
on  foundations  that  are  lamentably  sandy.  Indeed  one  may  say  that 
there  is  almost  nothing  in  them.  True  is  probably  the  remark  attrib- 
uted to  Barye,  when  questioned  as  to  his  invincible  silence  at  the  repasts 
in  restaurants  which  form  in  France  so  distinctive  a feature  in  contrast 
to  an  unsocial  side  of  American  life:  ‘There  are’  said  he  ‘two  kinds 

of  men,  the  talkers  and  the  listeners.  I belong  to  the  latter.’ 

That  remark,  of  course  by  no  means  original  with  him,  is  exactly  in 
accord  with  his  temperament.  Like  General  Grant  he  did  not  talk.  He 
detested  so  much  to  write  a letter  that  most  of  his  correspondence  was 
carried  on  by  his  wife  or  his  daughter.  Hence  his  autograph  is  rare. 
His  manners  to  those  who  came  to  buy  his  wares  and  were  sufficiently 
amateurs  to  make  it  worth  attending  to,  were  simple,  dignified  and 
reserved.  But  though  he  generally  left  his  sales  to  others  of  the  family 
there  was  no  trace  of  bad  temper  about  him  when  he  did  appear,  no 
sharp  speeches,  no  moodiness,  no  ungeniality,  only  a constant  sadness. 
He  had  learned  the  lesson  of  the  thousand  silences  of  which  Emerson 


36 


UOJM  STRIKING  AT  SERPEN! 


V 


) 


A LISTENER,  NOT  A TALKER 

speaks.  His  were  neither  boorish  silences,  nor  embittered,  nor  em- 
barrassed, nor  sullen.  He  loved  best  to  be  alone,  for  it  was  then  that 
he  could  reason  out  best  the  problems  he  had  set  himself  to  solve. 

Yet  his  nature  craved  the  voices  of  men;  he  loved  to  hear  his  viva- 
cious friends  dispute,  without  being  called  on  to  add  his  opinion  to  the 
debate;  and  he  probably  found  that  his  countrymen  were  for  the  most 
part  quite  ready  to  welcome  a man  who  accepted  so  readily  the  roll  of 
listener.  It  is  said  that  there  is  no  better  means  to  a reputation  for 
wisdom  and  amiability  than  a habit  of  silence.  It  is  also  said  that  few 
persons  are  gifted  with  the  genius  of  being  good  listeners.  This  may 
account  for  the  fact  that  Barye,  who  had  a nature  perhaps  oftener  found 
in  Germany  and  the  British  Isles  than  Paris,  was  loved  and  chei'islied 
by  many  men  of  different  natures  and  temperaments,  to  whom  he 
brought  the  boon  of  his  ears  instead  of  the  embarrassment  of  a 
tongue. 

Y 

Barye’s  personality  being  mooted,  there  is  room  here  for  a matter 
that  may  seem  at  first  to  contain  .as  much  fancy  as  fact.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  in  1831  he  modeled  the  bear  in  its  trough,  shown  in  the 
artotype,  while  the  Salon  of  1833  accepted  figures  of  no  less  than  four 
bears,  namely  the  Russian,  the  Alpine,  the  Indian  and  the  American, 
the  last  two  in  a wrestling  match  as  the  wood-cut  shows.  It  may  seem 
to  us  a simple  and  even  natural  thing  to  use  the  bear  in  the  fine  arts, 
but  that  is  because  this  sculptor  set  the  fashion,  and  clumsy  Bruin  no 
longer  surprises  or  disgusts  the  dilettant.  But  even  in  1830  the  animals 
were  ranked  by  castes. 

Ever  since  the  Crusades,  when  the  aristocracy  of  Europe  learned 
good  manners  and  civilized  customs  from  the  Asiatics  and  Greeks,  the 
lion  had  been  the  correct  animal  for  sculpture  and  the  fine  arts  gener- 
ally. The  horse  was  allowed  a humble  position  because  he  belonged  to 
the  knight,  and  the  hound  came  in  on  sufferance  for  the  same  reason. 
But  in  the  arts  horse  and  hound  lost  from  their  servile  condition  as 


37 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


regards  man  and  were  almost  always  badly  drawn  or  carved,  even  by 
the  great  masters.  At  the  best  they  were  wrought  well,  but  after  a set 
pattern,  with  small  regard  to  breed  and  none  to  individuality.  The  ox 
was  too  much  the  friend  of  the  rustic  ; the  ass  was  an  object  of  deris- 
ion ; the  serpent  was  eschewed  because  paganism  still  lingered  among 
the  pagani  or  rustics  in  a thousand  superstitions  ; the  boar  smacked  too 
much  of  the  ancient  heroes  before  the  Crusades  who  were  no  longer  the 
fashion ; the  hare  was  cowardly  and  the  wolf  had  almost  vanished  with 
increase  of  population  during  the  comparatively  unbloody  wars  of  the 
middle  ages. 

In  1830  the  bear  was  not  noble  any  longer,  though  thousands  of  names 
in  the  various  tongues  of  Europe  testified  at  what  a pitch  of  admiration 
the  ancient  Kelts,  Teutons  and  Turanians  had  once  held  poor  Bruin. 
Yet  the  people  were  true  to  him  long  after  the  middle  ages,  attributing 
to  his  fat  restorative  powers  and  to  his  flesh  the  property  of  making  the 
eater  courageous.  Olaus  Magnus  of  Upsala  says  that  in  the  northern 
lands,  concerning  which  he  professed  to  speak  with  particular  authority, 
the  flesh  of  the  bear  was  cured  in  large  quantities  for  the  use  of  soldiers. 
Many  are  the  odd  anecdotes  he  has  preserved  out  of  the  folk-lore  of  the 
middle  ages  with  regard  to  the  bear.  Thus  the  astuteness  of  Bruin  is 
shown  in  concealing  himself  under  leaves  until  deer  and  cattle  approach 
near  enough  to  be  seized,  also  in  his  building  himself  a winter  retreat 
in  which  to  hibernate.  The  ancients  believed  that  bears  grew  fat  during 
their  winter  sleep,  and  Olaus  tells  us  that  it  was  done  by  sucking  the 
right  paw.  This  approaches  magic. 

Human  intelligence  was  accorded  the  bear  in  its  dealing  with  the  por- 
cupine which  it  cannot  touch  when  the  latter  rolls  itself  up.  The  bear 
was  believed  to  resort  to  a stratagem  not  unlike  the  ancient  story  of  the 
man,  his  pet  bear  and  the  fly.  Mounting  a small  tree  near  the  ball  of 
spines,  the  bear  was  said  to  fell  the  tree  by  its  own  weight  exactfy  across 
the  porcupine  and  then  devour  the  crushed  prey  at  leisure.  But  man’s 
belief  in  the  wisdom  as  well  as  the  strength  and  courage  of  the  bear 
rises  highest — short  of  the  supernatural — in  the  story  of  the  Swiss  bear 


38 


No.  26.  American  and  Indian  Bears  Wrestling. 
Bronze.  Height,  894  inches,- 


CASTE  IN  ANIMALS  FOE  SCULPTURE 


that  stole  a beautiful  young  girl  and  made  her  his  wife,  their  offspring 
founding  several  families  which  have  reached  royal  and  imperial  power 
in  Germany.  These  strange  and  extravagant  tales,  some  of  which  may 
have  started  with  the  deeds  of  men  named  Bear,  who  lived  a robber  life 
and  wore  bear’s  furs  for  warmth  as  well  as  to  scare  the  more  peaceful 
countrymen,  are  only  mentioned  to  give  some  idea  of  the  importance 
that  once  attached  in  Europe  and  Asia  to  a beast  now  fallen  in  public 
esteem. 

For  such  reasons  it  was  that  a sculptor  who  made  bears  the  subjects 
of  his  works  met  squarely  the  caste  feeling  which  had  spread  from  the 
ranks  of  men  to  animals.  Without  intending  it,  he  proclaimed  himself 
thereby  a democrat  and  the  champion  of  the  folk,  among  whom  the 
bear  retained  some  of  his  old  honor,  such  as  it  was.  In  Reynard  the 
Fox,  a mediaeval  satire  on  men  by  means  of  beasts,  the  relative  position 
of  the  bear  is  exactly  reflected  as  it  was  after  the  first  crusade  had  in- 
troduced the  lion  generally  to  Europe.  In  that  delightful  chronicle  the 
bear  has  aspirations  toward  the  throne  and  is  gulled  readily  into  the 
belief  that  he  can  take  the  place  of  the  lion ; but  his  attempts  are  only 
the  signal  for  his  utter  plunder  and  bedevilment.  Broadly  considered 
he  represents  the  folk  which  aims  at  regaining  the  command  that  after 
a fashion  it  once  had.  The  folk  hopes  to  unseat  the  king,  a noble  who 
has  brought  the  rest  of  the  nobility  under  his  yoke  and  by  their  aid 
keeps  the  folk  in  subjection. 

On  still  wider  lines  the  bear  represents  the  older  inhabitants  of 
Europe,  largely  composed  of  Turanians  conquered  by  Aryan  tribes. 
The  lion,  an  exotic  unknown  to  the  fauna  of  Europe  save  in  Thessaly,  at 
a remote  period,  namely  at  the  Persian  invasion  of  Gi'eece,  stands  for 
the  conquering  race,  whose  advent  into  Europe,  remote  as  it  is,  con- 
tinues to  be  recognized  as  later  than  the  Turanian.  Consciousness  of 
its  past  lingers  in  the  present  among  the  commons.  We  see  then  how 
far  rooted  back  in  the  past  such  apparently  trivial  things  are,  how 
great  a history  lies  behind  such  a phenomenon  as  the  position  of  the 
bear  toward  the  lion  in  Reynard  the  Fox  and  the  bestiaries  of  the 


39 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOE 


middle  ages.  That  this  is  not  a fanciful  view  may  be  worth  proving 
from  the  Kale  tala  of  the  Finns,  an  epic  which  is  one  of  the  very  few 
survivals  down  to  the  present  day  of  the  literature  of  that  Turanian  race 
which  once  held  all  Europe  from  the  Urals  to  the  Arran  Islands  off 
Ireland  and  from  the  North  Cape  to  Sicily,  that  race  which  forms  a 
large  part  of  the  population  of  Europe,  though  its  tongues  are  gone 
and  its  legends  appropriated  by  the  conquerors. 


VI 

In  that  epic  and  in  the  songs  of  nations  of  kindred  speech  which 
have  held  their  own  in  the  north  of  Europe  there  is  no  talk  of  the  lion. 
The  bear,  the  wolf,  the  elk  and  the  reindeer,  the  horse  and  the  dog,  are 
the  nobles,  as  they  used  to  be  elsewhere  in  Europe.  The  bear  is  even 
more.  He  ranks  there  as  he  did  with  our  Indians  who  always  apolo- 
gized when  they  killed  him.  Bruin  is  in  a certain  sense  a god  to  whom 
are  attributed  some  of  the  magical  properties  imagined  in  the  constella- 
tion still  widely  known  as  the  Great  Bear.  When  hunted  certain  formu- 
las are  chanted  in  his  presence  before  and  while  he  is  attacked.  The  bear 
hunter’s  return  to  the  village  or  fai'm  is  accompanied  by  words  conse- 
crated by  tradition,  solos  recited  by  the  killer  of  the  bear,  choruses 
chanted  by  the  villagers,  while  dances,  genuflexions  and  other  signs  of 
a genuine  religious  rite  of  a purely  pagan  character  are  performed.  In 
the  present  day  a larger  element  of  humor  has  intruded  into  these 
songs  but  the  serious  foundation  of  the  ceremonies  is  abundantly 
apparent. 

Rune  XL VI  of  the  Kalevala  describes  how  Vaino,  the  eponymous  hero 
and  benefactor  of  Finland,  undertakes  to  slay  the  great  bear  which 
Louhi,  the  traditional  enemy  of  the  Finns,  has  sent  down  from  the 
northland  to  devastate  the  herds  and  devour  the  folk  of  Yainola.  He 
applies  to  his  brother  demi-god,  the  magic  smith  Ilraarinen,  for  a 
weapon  capable  of  piercing  the  enchanted  beast. 


40 


No.  27.  Standing  Bear. 
Bronze.  Height,  inches. 


THE  OLD  NOBLE  ANIMALS  OF  EUROPE 


Thereupon  the  skillful  blacksmith 
Forged  a spear  from  magic  metals, 

Forged  a lancet  triple-pointed, 

Not  the  longest,  nor  the  shortest, 

Forged  the  spear  in  wondrous  beauty. 

On  one  side  a bear  was  sitting, 

Sat  a wolf  upon  the  other, 

On  the  blade  an  elk  lay  sleeping, 

On  the  shaft  a colt  was  running, 

Near  the  hilt  a roebuck  bounding. 

Here  are  the  old  noble  animals  of  Europe  before  ideas  of  kingship 
and  a graded  aristocracy  were  fixed,  at  first  by  Charlemagne  and  then 
more  firmly  by  the  upper  classes  during  the  Crusades  — bear,  wolf,  elk, 
horse  and  stag.  The  bear  leads  them  all. 

Yaino  then  addresses  the  riders  of  the  forest,  asking  their  permission 
and  aid  and  begging  them  to  chain  up  their  ‘ dogs’  the  wolves.  He 
proceeds  to  invoke  Otso  the  bear,  calling  him  forest-apple,  honey-paw, 
light-foot,  well-beloved  and  other  terms  of  admiration  and  endearment, 
charming  him  in  such  fashion  to  acquiesce  in  his  own  death.  That  stern 
fact  is  clothed  in  all  sorts  of  circumlocutions.  Otso  is  promised  fine 
quarters,  milk,  honey  and  a magnificent  entertainment  in  Vainola. 
When  they  hear  the  strain  of  Vaino’s  bugle  on  the  hills  the  people  rush 
from  their  cabins  and  ask  a series  of  questions  in  which  the  feelings  of 
the  bear  are  most  delicately  considered.  And  Vaino  answers : 

Therefore  do  I come  rejoicing, 

Singing,  playing,  on  my  snow-shoes. 

Not  the  mountain-lynx  nor  serpent, 

Comes  however  to  our  dwelhng $ 

The  Illustrious  is  coming, 

Pride  and  beauty  of  the  forest ; 

’Tis  the  Master  comes  among  us, 

Covered  with  his  friendly  fur-robe. 

Welcome  Otso,  welcome  Light-foot, 

Welcome  Loved  one  from  the  glenwood ! 

If  the  mountain  guest  is  welcome, 

Open  wide  the  gates  of  entry  ; 

If  the  bear  is  thought  unworthy, 

Bar  the  doors  against  the  stranger. 


6 


41 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


There  are  formulas  when  the  bear  is  skinned  and  his  flesh  prepared 
for  the  cauldrons.  And  while  all  who  are  worthy  partake  of  the  sacred 
banquet  Yaino  is  questioned  concerning  Otso’s  birth  and  deeds ; where- 
upon he  answers  in  a very  beautiful,  nay,  a lovely  panegyric,  in  which 
the  connection  between  the  physical  bear  and  the  spiritual  god  of  the 
constellation  is  everywhere  apparent.  He  pushes  civility  so  far  as  to 
assert  that  the  dead  bear  was  not  brutally  killed  by  him,  but  out  of 
regard  for  the  people  actually  committed  suicide  by  falling  from  a tree 
and  impaling  himself  on  a stake.  As  to  Otso’s  birth,  that  was  celestial 
so  far  as  his  soul  is  concerned ; he  was  fashioned  by  the  daughter  of  the 
god  of  the  woodlands  out  of  materials  thrown  from  heaven  into  the  sea 
by  a maiden  of  the  sky,  and  was  cradled  in  the  top  of  a pine. 

Fair  Mielikki,  woodland  hostess, 

Tapio’s  most  cunning  daughter, 

Took  the  fragments  from  the  seaside, 

Took  the  white  wool  from  the  waters, 

Sewed  the  hair  and  wool  together, 

Laid  the  bundle  in  her  basket, 

Basket  made  from  bark  of  birch-wood, 

Bound  with  cords  the  magic  bundle  ; 

With  the  chains  of  gold  she  bound  it 
To  the  pine-tree’s  topmost  branches. 

There  she  rocked  the  thing  of  magic, 

Rocked  to  life  the  tender  baby 
’Mid  the  blossoms  of  the  pine-tree 
On  the  fir-top  set  with  needles ; 

Thus  the  young  bear  well  was  nurtured, 

Thus  was  sacred  Otso  cradled 
On  the  honey-tree  of  Northland 
In  the  middle  of  the  forest. 

Sacred  Otso  grew  and  flourished, 

Quickly  grew  with  graceful  movements, 

Short  of  feet,  with  crooked  ankles, 

Wide  of  mouth  and  broad  of  forehead, 

Short  his  nose,  his  fur-robe  velvet. 

Then  she  freed  her  new-made  creature, 

Let  the  Light-foot  walk  and  wander, 


42 


V ■')  (MMJlt/luy) 


BARYE  CARICATURED  AS  A BEAR 


THE  MAGIC  BEAR  OF  THE  FINNS 


Let  him  lumber  through  the  marshes, 

Let  him  amble  through  the  forest, 

Roll  upon  the  plains  and  pastures ; 

Taught  him  how  to  walk  a hero, 

How  to  move  with  graceful  motion, 

How  to  live  in  ease  and  pleasure, 

How  to  rest  in  full  contentment 
In  the  moors  and  in  the  marshes 
On  the  borders  of  the  woodlands. 

( J.  M.  Crawford's  Kalevala.) 

The  meaning  of  Otso’s  double  birth  in  heaven  and  on  earth  is  dis- 
covered when  we  perceive  that  the  magic  bear,  sent  by  Louhi  the  spirit 
of  the  northern  storm  to  devastate  Finland,  is  an  earthly  double  of 
Otava  the  Great  Bear  of  the  heavens,  who  is  considered  more  particu- 
larly a god  of  the  Lapps  and  the  northern  Finnic  peoples  but  little 
touched  by  Christianity. 


VII 

The  stag  and  the  lion  were  the  noble  animals  in  particular  when 
Barye  startled  Paris  with  his  bears  single  and  bears  double.  Undoubt- 
edly there  is  a comic  element  in  the  bear  well  understood  by  the  hardy 
peasants  of  the  Bearnais  who  capture  and  train  the  common  brown  bear 
to  dance  for  the  delectation  of  children  and  rustics.  But  in  French, 
Belgian  and  English  heraldry  the  favorite  animal  is  the  lion,  showing 
as  before  noted  the  strong  influence  exerted  by  the  Crusades.  For  who, 
looking  over  a manual  of  heraldry,  would  imagine  that  the  beast  that 
meets  the  eye  at  every  turn  has  no  existence  in  Europe  save  in  the  guise 
of  a wretched  captive  at  fairs  and  in  menageries  '?  And  why  is  it  that 
one  sees  so  rarely  the  bear,  which  once  was  the  synonym  of  courage 
and  strength  ? 

Because  the  upper  classes  turned  naturally  to  exotic  symbols  in 
order  to  widen  yet  more  the  gulf  between  them  and  the  common  herd. 
Scottish  and  German  ballads  and  chronicles  have  many  variants  on  the 
old  travelers’  tales  setting  forth  how  a hero  from  Europe,  journeying 


43 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


through  Oriental  lands,  despatches  a very  large  cat,  as  he  supposes,  and 
finds  that  he  has  slain  the  monarch  of  beasts,  so  much  dreaded  by  the 
natives.  Doubtless  such  things  did  occur.  A Crusader  clad  in  steel 
may  have  killed  a lion  or  a leopard  in  Palestine  or  Egypt.  But  the 
fashion  was  set  to  place  one  of  these  beasts  on  the  shield  and,  later,  in 
the  quarterings  of  coats-of-arms,  in  order  to  publish  the  claim  of  the 
wearer  to  descent  from  a soldier  who  fought  for  the  Cross  in  the  East 
or  perchance  to  boast  that  the  ancestor  in  question  slew  a valiant 
Saracen  whose  shield  carried  a lion  as  a blason.  It  seems  odd  that 
such  a thing  should  have  its  effect  down  to  the  present  day;  but  so  it  is. 

We  know  that  Barye  surprised  the  men  of  1830  by  his  bears  more 
than  anything  else,  because,  when  a caricaturist  of  a sort  by  no  means 
ill-natured  wished  to  make  sport  of  the  sculptor  as  of  other  artists,  he 
drew  Barye  seated  at  his  modeling  table  in  the  act  of  molding  the 
statuette  of  a bear.  The  illustration  shows  this  lithograph,  which 
must  be  regarded  as  a witness  to  Barye’s  fame  rather  than  an  attack 
upon  him.  The  verses  below  it  are  very  poor,  but  they  have  no  sting. 
The  object  was  simply  to  provoke  a smile  and  doubtless  did  so  merely 
from  the  fact  that  the  bear  itself  was  generally  regarded  an  un-noble 
animal  hardly  suited  to  the  fine  arts.  But  what  must  strike  one  further 
is  the  fact  that  the  caricaturist  has  found  in  Barye’s  face  a likeness  to 
that  of  Bruin.  By  exaggerating  enormously  the  generous  nose  with  its 
rising  plane  below  the  tip  wherewith  the  sculptor  was  blessed,  the  fun- 
maker  has  managed  to  bring  the  profiles  of  man  and  beast  into  some 
kind  of  resemblance.  We  may  doubt  whether  to  anybody  else  this  com- 
parison occurred.  But  there  is  a coincidence  connected  with  it  that  is 
of  course  nothing  more  than  a coincidence,  yet  perhaps  worthy  of  note. 
It  relates  to  the  probable  origin  of  the  sculptor’s  family  name. 

The  bear  having  once  stood  at  the  head  of  all  the  animals  of  Europe 
for  strength  and  courage,  was  a favorite  for  the  names  of  boys.  Thence 
it  entered  into  a great  series  of  names,  not  of  men  alone,  but  of  districts 
and  lands.  Berne  in  Switzerland  carries  the  bear  on  its  coat-of-arms. 
Bearne  in  the  south  of  France,  Beara  in  the  southwest  of  Ireland 


44 


BEAR  OVERTHROWN  BY  M ASTI  EPS 


MO.  30. 

BEAR  IN  ITS  TROUGH 


Height  4X;j  inchei1 


THE  BEAK  IN  NAMES  OF  MEN  AND  PLACES 


named  from  a mythical  princess  from  Spain,  Biarma-land  near  the 
Arctic  sea  are  places  in  point.  Berlin  and  Prussia  (Borussia)  belong 
to  the  hear.  The  title  of  Baron  may  be  traced  by  various  steps  to 
the  strong  man  in  general  who  for  his  valor  and  strength  was 
called  a bear.  There  is  more  than  a probability  that  the  name 
Barye  is  one  of  a host  of  such  names.  These  may  be  profitably 
compared  with  a great  number  of  names  in  the  present  day  into  which 
the  word  lion  or  leon,  Lowe  or  Leuw  enters,  according  as  the  family 
descends  from  French,  English,  Italian,  German  or  Hollandish  stock. 
The  place-names  into  which  bear  enters  may  likewise  be  compared  with 
place-names  in  which  lion  is  found.  And  it  may  be  further  remarked 
that  as  a rule  the  bear  names  belong  to  an  older  period  than  the  lion 
names ; also  that  the  lion  names  are  apt  to  be  borne  by  those  of  the 
upper  classes  or  by  such  people  as  have  assumed  upper-class  names  in 
order  to  separate  themselves  from  common  folk. 

Bear  names  for  individuals  are  found  in  almost  all  languages,  but  our 
composite  tongues  of  Europe  generally  favor  two  forms.  One,  the 
northern,  seems  to  spring  from  the  old  non-Aryan  languages  of 
Europe  and  is  represented  by  piro,  bero  in  Finnish,  Bar  in  German, 
bjorn  in  Norwegian,  bear  in  English.  The  other,  the  southern,  is  found 
as  aJcsha  in  Sanskrit,  arktos  in  Greek,  ursus  in  Latin,  ours  in  French. 
The  modern  word  for  bear  in  Finnish  is  Icarhu  meaning  the  ‘rough, 
hairy’  animal  but  the  old  word  for  a beast  that  is  still  worshipped  by 
remote  sections  of  the  Turanian  races  in  Asia  is  preserved  by  the  Finns 
in  Piru,  devil.  In  Lappish  we  have  biran,  the  bear,  while  in  the 
dialects  spoken  by  the  Koibals  and  Karagasses  the  word  has  been 
applied  to  the  wolf,  which  is  more  dangerous  on  the  steppes  than  the 
forest-dwelling  bear.  Bur  and  burn  are  their  terms  for  the  wolf. 
Fitz-Urse  is  a name  the  Normans  brought  into  England.  Bjorn  is  an 
appellation  one  meets  constantly  in  the  Norse  sagas ; indeed  there  is  one 
tale  of  a prince  of  that  name  who  was  bewitched  by  a woman  called  Bera 
(she-bear)  who  caused  him  to  marry  her,  but  soon  occasioned  the  death 
of  her  husband  and  his  brother  Ingve  at  each  other’s  hands.  The 


45 


LIFE  OF  BAR YE  THE  SCULPTOR 


famous  hero  of  the  Saxon  lay  of  Beowulf  is  called  Bee-wolf,  a word  that 
means  no  other  animal  than  the  hear.  In  the  well-known  mediaeval  tale 
on  the  other  hand  there  is  Orson,  the  boy  who  was  brought  up  by  the 
bears ; Ursula  ‘ little  she-bear  ’ is  a name  not  unknown  to  the  Latins  before 
and  after  Christian  times.  We  may  confidently  place  then  the  majority 
of  names  like  Barry  and  Barye  in  the  great  class  deriving  from  powerful 
animals  and  rank  them  more  particularly  under  the  bears. 

Barye  was  in  every  sense  a man  of  the  people,  a common  soldier  in 
the  wars,  an  apprentice  to  a jeweler,  defective  in  his  education,  unpre- 
tentious, a member  of  that  vast  body  of  men  in  France  who  let  others 
do  the  talking  and  posturing  but  keep  the  country  upright,  sound  in 
morals  and  teeming  with  wealth.  He  was  it  is  true  patronized  by  a 
king,  by  princes  and  princesses  of  the  blood  royal,  by  Bourbons  and 
Napoleons;  but  the  instinct  of  the  man  revealing  itself  in  his  daily 
life — his  sober  industrious  habits,  his  excellent  record  as  husband, 
father  and  citizen  — was  for  democracy.  The  aim  of  the  sculptor, 
revealing  itself  in  the  new  field  of  work  into  which  he  entered  with 
calm  confidence  in  his  own  wisdom  against  the  fashion  and  indeed  the 
clamorous  opposition  of  his  day,  was  toward  a subtler  democracy  in 
the  arts.  A better  example  of  this  fact  could  not  be  wished  than  the 
appearance  in  the  Salon  of  1833  and  succeeding  exhibitions  of  all  those 
statuettes  of  the  bear,  that  animal  which  the  history  of  Europe  for 
the  past  eight  hundred  years  had  consigned  to  unmerited  contempt, 
while  the  beast  of  the  court  and  camp,  the  favorite  of  the  nobility, 
the  animal  after  which  towns,  villages,  nobles  hastened  to  call  them- 
selves was  not  only  foreign  to  the  soil  but  the  symbol  of  an  upper  class 
more  inimical  to  the  people,  more  destructive  of  wealth  and  comfort 
than  would  have  been  a legion  of  bears. 

Barye,  the  descendant  of  some  conqueror  of  bears  into  whose  name 
that  mark  of  steady  courage  was  stamped,  in  whose  profile  a caricaturist 
even  detected  a likeness  to  that  of  a bear,  surprised  the  world  by 
deigning  to  employ  his  acknowledged  talent  as  a sculptor  in  modeling  a 
thoroughly  unfashionable,  an  almost  ridiculous  beast. 


46 


NO.  31. 

“ BEAR  SURPRISING  OWL 


Height  1\£  inches 


) 


LOVE  OF  BARYE  FOR  THE  BEAR 


VIII 

Under  the  encouragement  of  his  successes  in  1831  and  1833  the 
genius  of  Barye  put  forth  branches  in  all  directions.  He  was  almost  too 
prolific,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter.  The  little  bear  rollicking  in 
his  tub,  which  was  bought  by  the  heir  apparent  to  the  throne,  showed  at 
least  this  to  such  as  were  too  fashionable  to  admire  that  beast : the 
sculptor  could  touch  the  comic  string  as  well  as  the  tragic.  He  was  not 
an  abnormal  artist,  a lover  of  carnage  and  blood,  though  such  is  the 
charge  reiterated  against  him.  He  could  be  genial  in  clay  and  raise  a 
smile — yet  also  chill  the  beholder  with  the  ferocity  of  beast  natures 
engaged  in  the  last  agony  of  exertion  to  escape  death.  The  standing 
bear,  too,  has  a waggish  look,  and  from  behind  presents  the  clumsy 
cumbrous  appearance  which  the  unknown  bards  who  transmitted  the 
Kalevala  to  us  have  touched  upon  so  finely  in  the  chants  to  honor  Otso 
the  Illustrious  One,  Forest-apple  and  Light-foot ! What  a tender  note 
in  his  little  statuette  of  a dead  gazelle  ! — there  again  we  see  how  narrow 
is  the  view  that  perceives  in  Barye  only  the  cruelty  of  combat. 

We  have  noted  many  reasons  for  opposition  to  Bai-ye’s  work  that  were 
independent  of  jealousies  of  the  guild,  being  naturally  the  product  of 
ancient  ideas  partly  religious,  partly  sociological,  partly  connected  with 
false  axioms  in  art.  But  now  we  open  the  chapter  of  animosities  arising 
from  the  success  of  the  sculptor,  such  as  it  was ; animosities  which  have 
been  treated  by  essayists  and  biographers  as  if  they  were  the  only 
stumbling-blocks  in  his  way,  as  if  they  sprang  from  pure  malignity 
untempered  by  reason.  We  may  be  certain  that  up  to  1834  the  opposition 
Barye  found  was  unconscious  opposition,  having  no  individual  bearing 
and  simply  resulting  from  the  situation,  the  inveterate  prejudices,  the 
fashionable  ideas  of  the  time.  With  the  Salon  of  1833  we  reach  the 
moment  when  Barye  was  a marked  man,  no  longer  an  unknown  or  a 
merely  clever  artisan  who  had  made  a point  by  chance  in  a former  Salon. 
With  other  artists  he  contributed  a cut  to  Le  Musee,  revue  du  Salon  de 


47 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


1834.  He  was  lauded  by  men  like  Gustave  Planch  e,  Thore,  Theophile 
Gautier,  Silvestre.  But  these  writers  were  prone  to  attack  the  men  in  office 
as  their  successors  are  to-day ; whilst  those  in  office,  together  with  the 
writers  and  artists  who  hoped  for  favors,  answered  them  in  the  public 
prints,  or  more  often,  having  the  power  in  their  own  hands,  affected  to 
ignore  the  assaults  but  riposted  by  withholding  awards  and  honors,  and 
even  by  refusing  to  accept  and  exhibit  the  work  of  artists  admired  by  the 
opposition. 

Thus  the  latter  became  the  victims  of  a polemic  which  was  all  the 
more  poisonous  and  without  ruth  because  it  revolved  on  matters  of 
taste  and  dealt  with  abstractions  which  are  removed  from  ordinary 
tests.  If  you  say  that  a tree  is  so  many  feet  high,  your  statement  can  be 
verified  by  actual  measurement  or  by  calculations  with  the  aid  of  an 
instrument  everybody  accepts.  But  if  you  say  that  the  moon  seems  to 
you  the  size  of  a quart  measure,  it  is  quite  within  possibilities  that  one 
person  will  say  it  is  the  size  of  the  head  of  a barrel  and  another  that  it  is 
as  large  as  a silver  dollar.  There  is  no  appeal  from  these  differences  of 
opinion  because  there  is  no  way  of  measuring  the  apparent  breadth  of  the 
moon  unless  some  convention  be  established,  such  as  the  distance  from  the 
eye  of  some  unit  of  measure  by  which  its  size  can  be  calculated.  The  man 
who  admired  the  bears  of  Barye  and  he  who  regarded  bears  as  too  vul- 
gar and  ridiculous  for  sculpture  were  not  likely  to  convince  each  other. 
Still  harder  to  conciliate  was  the  artist  who  thought  Barye  slurred  his 
work  when  he  made  it  broad.  But  the  most  irreconcilable  were  those 
who  were  filled  with  the  demon  of  politics  and  decided  for  and  against  a 
man  according  as  their  leaders  gave  the  signal.  It  was  from  these 
gentry  that  Barye  was  now  to  suffer  far-reaching  harm. 


48 


ELK  SURPRISED  BY  A LYNX 


Chapter  Three 

I 

Duke  of  Orleans  followed  up  the  favors  already  granted  to 
'ye  by  ordering  a series  of  groups  to  occupy  the  centre, 
ners  and  sides  of  the  middle  space  on  his  dining  table 
upon  an  immense  tray  of  silver,  designed  by  Chenavard,  called  a 
surtout.  The  largest  was  of  course  for  the  centre.  At  the  sides 
groups  only  less  elaborate  were  to  stand,  while  the  corners  of  the 
centre-piece  were  to  be  graced  by  four  still  smaller  pieces.  Nine  groups, 
the  largest  of  which  contained  three  animals  and  three  men,  the 
smallest,  two  animals,  were  to  be  finished  in  time  for  the  Salon  of  1834. 
They  exist  to-day  as  a proof  of  the  tremendous  power  of  work  in  Barye 
during  those  years  of  uncertain  and  then  apparently  assured  success. 
The  centre-piece  is  the  Hunt  of  the  Tiger.  Hindoos  and  Mohammedan 
Indians  on  the  back  of  an  immense  elephant  defend  themselves  against 
two  tigers,  one  of  which  clambers  up  the  side  of  the  great  brute  and 
almost  reaches  the  howdah  on  its  back,  while  the  other  has  fastened  its 
fangs  and  claws  in  the  left  hind  foot  of  the  elephant. 

This  truly  superb  bronze,  which  deserved  to  be  made  life-size  and 
placed  as  a memorial  of  Barye  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  whei’e  he 


7 


49 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOE 


studied  to  such  purpose,  was  cast  like  the  lion  and  serpent  of  the  Tui- 
leries  by  the  wax  process.  Carved  on  its  base  one  reads : Bronze 
d’un  jet  sans  ciselure.  Fondu  a VHotel  Dangivilliers  par  Honore  Gonon. 
Frightful  is  the  aspect  of  the  tiger  that  seizes  the  elephant’s  leg. 
Serpentine  and  beautiful  is  the  other,  writhing  up  the  elephant’s  side. 
Tremendous  is  the  action  of  the  men ; stolid  but  resolved  is  the  huge 
beast,  round  which  the  fight  rages  as  round  a living  island  conscious 
of  the  acts  of  the  pigmies  that  assail  and  defend  it.  Contemplating  this 
piece  one  is  tempted  to  say  that  it  alone  might  suffice  to  give  an  artist 
fame  and  that,  had  Barye  never  done  but  this  one  group,  he  would  have 
been  almost  as  famous  as  he  afterwards  became.  For  in  great  fecundity 
of  invention  there  is  this.  As  one  nail  drives  out  another,  so  the  new 
work  of  art  causes  men  to  forget  the  old.  The  multiplicity  of  Barye’s 
groups  made  the  public  value  less  the  beauty  of  each. 

At  one  of  the  ends  of  the  table  stood  the  Hunt  of  the  Elk.  Tatars  on 
horseback  pursue  the  noble  quarry,  and  having  overtaken  two  elks  with 
their  dogs,  are  just  in  the  act  of  driving  at  the  throat  of  one  with  hanger 
and  spear.  On  one  side  rose  the  Hunt  of  the  Wild  Ox,  a beast  now  almost 
extinct  in  Europe  and  one  which  has  not  been  a wild  animal  in  the 
usual  sense  for  centuries.  Two  warriors  of  the  fifteenth  century  in 
the  simple  sort  of  helmets  and  breast-plates  of  Francis  I pursue  the 
wild  bull,  which  has  already  got  the  better  of  several  big  mastiffs.  The 
horses  of  two  hunters  have  been  driven  fairly  upon  the  bull  so  that  their 
forefeet  are  on  its  back  while  a third  horseman  is  fairly  under  it, 
his  horse  having  fallen  dead.  The  piece  is  rather  long,  not  being  con- 
centrated into  a compact  group  like  the  end  pieces.  The  third  is  the 
Hunt  of  the  Lion  and  the  fourth  the  Hunt  of  the  Bear,  a singularly 
well-knit  composition,  full  of  rush  on  the  part  of  the  huntsmen  and  of 
angry  ineffectual  fight  on  the  side  of  the  bears.  The  group  is  so  good 
that  for  many  critics  it  surpasses  even  the  tiger-hunt  with  elephant,  the 
point  being  that  Barye  loved  bears  and  rendered  them  with  singular 
spirit,  and  furthermore  that  a bear  hunt  is  a scene  not  unknown  in  Europe, 
while  a tiger-hunt  requires  in  a European  artist  a good  deal  of  imagina- 


50 


No.  34.  Hunt  of  the  Tiger. 
Bronze.  Height,  27  inches. 


THE  FOUR  UNIQUE  HUNTS 


tion  to  take  the  place  of  study  from  the  life.  There  are  two  hears  and 
several  dogs ; one  huntsman  on  horseback,  of  the  time  of  Charles  VII, 
is  about  giving  with  a sword  a splendid  right  cut  from  the  left  side  of 
his  head  ; another  on  foot  has  closed  with  a bear.  For  many  reasons  this 
group  may  well  be  ranked  first  among  the  four  pieces  at  ends  and  sides  ; 
but  a careful  examination  of  the  groups  nowr  in  the  Walters  Gallery  must 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  centre-piece,  the  Tiger-hunt,  is  the  most 
imposing  if  not  the  closest  to  reality.  The  Walters  Gallery  lacks  but 
one  of  this  famous  quintette.  The  Lion-hunt  has  not  left  France.  The 
Bear -hunt  was  formerly  in  the  collection  of  the  late  William  Tildeu 
Blodgett  of  New  York. 

The  varied  shapes  of  the  nine  groups  are  only  understood  when  their 
relative  positions  are  considered.  Imagine  an  enormous  baronial  table 
bearing  a surtout  laid  with  mirrors  and  lit  by  brilliant  masses  of  tapers. 
Then  the  Tiger-hunt  occupied  the  centre.  On  the  long  sides  of  the 
table  stood  the  Lion- hunt  and  Wild-bull-hunt  forming  long  rather  than 
round  masses  of  combatants.  Toward  the  ends  on  elevated  parts 
of  the  tray  were  the  Elk-hunt  and  Bear-hunt,  rounded  in  general 
outline.  Finally  the  four  duels  of  animals  were  to  stand  on  pedestals 
placed  at  the  four  corners  of  the  Tiger-hunt  in  the  centre.  The  ar- 
rangement was  thus  to  be  symmetrical  but  not  too  regular.  One 
who  could  appreciate  the  novelty  of  the  groups  and  understand  all 
the  learning  intimately  fused  with  genius  that  was  needful  to  have 
produced  them  might  well  lose  his  appetite  in  regarding  such  master 
craft. 

Down  to  1850  the  arbiters  of  the  Salon  were  the  members  of  the  In- 
stitute from  whose  ranks  a jury  was  formed  to  pass  upon  the  pieces 
submitted.  Some  were  booky  men  who  had  lived  so  retired  and  were 
so  little  dreaded  by  their  peers  that  they  were  readily  elected  to  a 
House  at  whose  portals  a man  of  brains,  active  life  and  enemies  knocked 
in  vain.  Others  were  musicians  for  whose  ability  to  judge  works  of  art 
certain  critics  expressed  deep  contempt.  These  were  the  men  who  had 
formerly  driven  Barye  to  despair  and  kept  him  from  the  Salon.  He 


51 


LIFE  OF  BAKYE  THE  SCULPTOK 


had  brief  favors  in  1831  and  1833.  Now  it  came  to  something  more 
than  Barye  alone;  it  was  Barye  plus  the  Prince  Royal. 

It  will  hardly  be  believed  that  such  works  of  art  as  these  were  re- 
fused by  the  Salon  in  the  year  1834.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  had  seen 
them  growing  beneath  the  hand  of  the  master  and  very  naturally  de- 
sired to  see  them  exhibited.  He  asked  the  sculptor  to  see  that  they 
might  appear,  but  Barye,  either  because  he  felt  that  he  was  already 
marked  for  a victim  of  jealousy,  or  because  he  was  deeply  wounded 
by  the  taunts  of  animalier  and  maker  of  paper-weights  and  mantel 
ornaments,  or  because  he  felt  it  to  be  undignified  to  exert  influence  on 
the  jury,  declined  to  act.  Thereupon  the  Duke  made  overtures  and  was 
surprised  to  find,  the  groups  for  the  surtout  de  table  were  to  be  refused 
admittance ! He  hurried  to  Louis  Philippe  the  head  of  the  State,  and 
begged  that  such  an  act  of  injustice  might  not  be  committed.  But 
that  monarch  had  all  he  could  do  to  maintain  himself  among  difficul- 
ties far  more  important  than  ebullitions  of  ill-will  among  artists  and 
the  officials  who  preside  over  artistic  matters. 

1 What  would  you  ? ’ remarked  Louis  Philippe,  the  upholder  on  dem- 
ocratic principles  of  a throne  which  could  only  be  based  on  the  divine 
right  of  kings.  1 1 have  created  a jury.  I can  not  force  them  to  accept 
works  of  genius.’ 

Nothing  could  have  placed  in  a stronger  light  the  insecurity  of  a 
throne  which  really  at  the  last  resort  rested  on  the  bayonets  of  a 
Europe  revolted  and  thrown  back,  as  Europe  then  was,  on  the  old 
crude  government  by  kings,  through  the  excesses  of  the  Revolution  and 
the  insatiable  ambition  of  Napoleon  the  Great.  The  sculptor  in  question 
was  a revolutionist  in  art,  a man  of  the  people,  and  the  jury  was  far 
from  being  a knot  of  men  who  professed  democratic  sentiments  or  felt 
them.  Yet  the  combination  of  artists  who  detested  any  new  ideas  and 
of  officials  who  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  snubbing  a Duke  of  Orleans 
was  too  strong  to  be  overcome. 

There  was  less  excuse  for  the  rejection  of  these  groups  owing  to  the 
fact  that  they  were  each  unique,  not  at  all  pieces  that  could  offer  them- 


52 


NO.  35. 

HUNT  OF  H 
Height  2C 


THE  E 


r 


THE  SALON  SNUBS  THE  DUKE 


selves  to  the  objection  of  being  bronzes  which  might  be  repeated  and 
put  into  commerce  as  an  article  of  trade.  The  Duke  was  a popular  man 
with  the  Parisians ; the  king,  his  father,  showed  on  several  occasions 
a decided  sensitiveness  to  the  contrast  between  public  expressions  of 
approval  of  himself  and  the  heir.  It  may  be  that  some  of  the  animus 
that  showed  itself  against  these  special  groups  sprang  from  the  spaniel 
trait  of  courtiers  to  detect  the  hidden  feelings  of  their  masters  and 
molest  those  toward  whom  the  latter  cherish  ill-will.  The  death  of  the 
luckless  Duke  by  being  thrown  from  his  carriage  in  the  street  removed 
a courageous  and  keen-sighted  patron  of  the  arts. 

When  their  rejection  was  assured,  the  landscapist  Jules  Dupre,  the 
last  to  survive  of  that  glorious  band  which  numbered  among  them 
Millet,  Rousseau  and  Corot,  happened  to  meet  Barye  as  he  walked  pen- 
sive and  as  usual  alone. 

He  asked  the  sculptor  how  things  went  with  him. 

‘Very  well  indeed,’  answered  Barye,  ‘they  have  refused  my  groups 
for  the  Duke  of  Orleans.’ 

And  when  Dupre  expressed  his  surprise  and  disgust  the  other 
remarked : 

‘ Why,  it  is  easy  enough  to  understand.  I have  too  many  friends  on 
the  jury.’ 

M.  Arsene  Alexandre  is  only  too  right,  while  telling  this  anecdote,  to 
make  it  a peg  on  which  to  hang  a sermon  upon  the  cruelty  of  artists 
toward  their  fellows,  a truth  less  clearly  understood  in  1833  than  it  is 
at  present,  when  there  are  so  many  proofs,  to  put  it  mildly,  of  the 
bad  judgment  of  artists  in  positions  of  responsibility  with  regal'd  to 
work  by  their  fellow-craftsmen.  Yet  even  here  we  must  always  remem- 
ber that  opposition  which  seems  to  outsiders  the  direct  product  of 
professional  jealousy  is  very  often  honest.  It  springs  from  ignorance  in 
men  who  have  devoted  themselves  too  strictly  to  one  view  and  one  side 
of  art;  who  have  in  youth  attached  themselves  so  violently  and  without 
reserve  to  the  ideas  of  one  master,  that  they  occupy  the  position  once 
held  by  the  grammarians,  who  could  see  nothing  beyond  their  own 


53 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


laborious  horizons  and  were  by  their  very  learning  rendered  incapable 
of  appreciating  and  even  tolerating  a new  vista  in  wisdom. 

It  is  tenable  that  Barye  did  not  reach  his  highest  point  in  these  five 
groups.  There  is  an  excess  of  composition  and  movement  in  some  of 
them ; there  is  composition  in  the  Wild  Bull  Hunt  for  instance 
which  lends  itself  to  criticism  when  the  bronze  is  regarded  by  itself. 
One  may  say  that  the  dogs  and  one  of  the  horsemen  are  a detriment  to 
the  group,  which  would  be  better  understood  at  a glance  were  they 
absent.  But  one  has  only  to  look  at  the  illustration  to  note  what  a 
magnificent  outline  that  composition  takes.  It  must  always  be  remem- 
bered that  no  one  of  the  present  generation  has  seen  these  superb  orna- 
ments of  a dinner  table  all  together  and  placed  exactly  as  the  designer 
intended  they  should  be.  Effects  which  seem  purposeless  when  a group 
is  regarded  for  itself,  and  especially  [as  one  falls  into  the  habit  of  im- 
agining with  works  by  Barye]  as  it  might  look  if  enlarged  to  colossal 
proportions  or  the  size  of  life  and  placed  alone  on  a public  square,  may 
explaiu  themselves  when  once  the  whole  service  has  been  brought 
together  and  made  the  decoration  of  a magnificent  table  glittering 
with  wax  candles  and  relieved  by  flat  mirrors  and  silver. 

The  four  minor  pieces  which,  as  just  stated,  were  the  flankers  for  the 
Tiger-hunt,  consist  each  of  combats  between  two  animals.  An  eagle 
pursues  a bouquetin,  striving  to  blind  it  or  hurry  it  from  a precipice 
to  its  death.  A lion  seizes  a boar  and  the  combat  is  by  no  means  cer- 
tainly in  favor  of  the  lion.  A leopard  springs  upon  an  antelope.  A 
serpent  has  twined  itself  about  a bison  or  a gnu  aud  tries  to  crush  it. 
There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  these  four  pieces. 
It  is  possible  that  the  Python  Crushing  a Gnu  owned  by  M.  Leon  Bonnat 
the  painter,  which  was  recently  shown  in  the  Gazette  des  Beaux  Arts 
under  the  mistaken  title  Aurochs  and  Serpent,  is  the  fourth  piece.  It 
is  unique  and  appears  to  have  been  made  like  all  this  set  by  the  wax 
process  in  which  the  mold  is  destroyed. 

In  1853  when  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  sold  the  table  service  the  Eagle 
and  Bouquetin  went  to  London  while  the  other  pieces  were  scattered 


54 


NO.  36. 

HUNT  OF  THE  BEAR 


Height  18  inches 


f 


TOO  EAENEST  FOE  FEENCH  TASTE 


among  French  amateurs.  But  four  of  the  groups  in  chief  are  now  here. 
A strange  and  moving  decoration,  truly,  this  ninefold  drama  of  the 
struggle  of  animals  against  man  and  their  natural  enemies  of  the  plain 
and  forest ! The  ordinary  diner-out  of  the  present  day  might  find  such 
groups  decidedly  too  strong  meat  for  his  digestion,  although  we  owe  it 
to  the  march  of  science  that  few  now  reject  the  thought  that  all  animate 
nature  is  engaged  in  a ceaseless  struggle  for  life ; people  of  education 
have  become  familiar  with  the  harshest  facts  of  the  case.  But  imagine 
the  effect  upon  the  men  of  1833  who  for  the  most  part  were  still  beneath 
the  spell  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  and  his  idyllic  views  of  existence 
in  the  woods  and  pastures ! Like  some  baleful  necromancer  a plain 
artisan  conjures  up  in  most  enduring  bronze  a spectre  of  that  fero- 
cious by-play  of  the  jungle,  the  prairie,  the  old  forests  of  Europe  and 
the  frozen  morasses  of  Siberia  which  is  forgot  while  we  clothe  our- 
selves with  the  spoils  of  the  chase  and  relate  anecdotes  of  the  big 
game  knocked  over  by  the  modern  arms  of  precision. 

The  earnestness  of  Barye  was  uncongenial  to  much  that  is  uppermost 
in  French  character  and  French  ideals  of  taste  and  good  breeding. 
These  astounding  groups  were  shaped  not  at  all  for  a museum  of 
natural  history  or  the  gallery  of  a rich  globe-trotter,  where  they  might 
form  part  of  his  strange  bronzes  from  Japan  and  his  other  curiosities, 
but  — of  all  other  places — for  the  festal  board  of  a prince,  and  that 
prince  the  Bourbon  who  might  some  day  become  the  King  of  France ! 
It  was  too  much  for  the  gay  nation,  or  the  nation  that  tries  philosoph- 
ically to  be  gay.  Verily,  in  attempting  to  vie  with  the  makers  of 
articles  de  Paris  this  man  Barye  showed  the  strength,  but  in  one  sense 
also  the  rude,  downright  vigor  of  the  bear.  But  the  jury  that  refused 
them  did  not  formulate  their  objections  on  that  line  of  defense.  On 
the  contrary,  their  defense  was  that  the  groups  were  not  sufficiently 
‘finished’;  then  they  went  on  to  prove  too  much  and  convicted  them- 
selves of  ignorance  or  of  insincerity  by  saying  that  these  were  not 
sculpture  but  jeweler’s  work. 


55 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


II 

The  Salon  of  1834  did  not,  however,  reject  other  sendings  by  Barye, 
nor  exclude  at  least  one  bronze  he  had  made  a few  years  earlier  for  the 
Duke  of  Orleans.  This  was  the  little  bear  already  mentioned  sporting 
in  his  tub ; it  was  cast  by  the  wax  process  also.  Then  there  was  the 
elephant  modeled  and  cast  for  the  Duke  of  Nemours  and  a horse  in  com- 
bat with  a lion  ordered  by  the  Duke  of  Luynes.  There  was  a bronze 
bear  and  the  dead  gazelle,  now  making  its  appearance  in  bronze,  each  a 
separate  piece.  He  also  sent  some  water-colors,  but  the  number  and  im- 
portance of  his  contributions  were  much  diminished  owing  to  the  rejec- 
tion of  his  masterpieces  for  the  Duke’s  table.  A panther  throttling  a 
gazelle  and  a stag  surprised  by  a lynx  (plaster)  represented  the  more 
ferocious  side  of  animal  existence  as  Barye  saw  it  from  the  singular 
vantage  ground  of  a dusty  workshop  in  over-civilized  Paris.  The  Stag 
and  Lynx  were  put  in  bronze  by  the  wax  process  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
and  in  1836  presented  by  him  to  Alexandre  Dumas  the  Elder. 

The  disfavor  of  the  jury  was  a hard  blow,  but  doubtless  Barye  was  still 
of  good  heart  and  looked  confidently  to  the  future,  now  that  he  had  not 
only  the  strongest  writers  on  his  side,  but  an  imposing  list  of  patrons  in 
his  books.  Yet  to  the  Salon  of  1835  he  sent  only  a Tiger  Devouring  a 
Stag  which  was  executed  of  colossal  size  in  Charence  stone  and  placed 
at  Lyons,  the  birthplace  of  his  father.  The  material  cuts  easily  but 
hardens  with  time.  This  subject  he  also  cast  in  bronze  by  the  wax  pro- 
cess, but  of  comparatively  small  size,  for  Monsieur  Thiers  who  was 
already  collecting  the  works  of  art  for  which  his  home  in  Paris  became 
famous.  The  same  or  another  bronze  reduction  Barye  used  to  sell  for 
one  hundred  and  twenty  francs.  Barye  perhaps  showed  in  this  solitary 
offering  to  the  Salon  his  resentment  for  the  act  of  the  jury  in  1834. 
In  this  year  falls  the  Lion  Holding  a Guiba  Antelope  of  which  the  Wal- 
ters Gallery  possesses  a specimen  covered  by  a most  beautiful  golden 
bronze  patina.  It  has  an  extra  stamp  reading  ‘Barye  17’  evidently 


56 


VARIOUS  PATINAS  ON  BRONZE 


added  after  the  casting  with  a steel  punch.  Many  bronzes  by  Barye 
carry  such  numbers  punched  on  or  underneath  their  metal  stands. 

They  gave  rise  to  a little  legend  — for  this  seulptor  had  very  early 
the  honor  of  engendering  legends  with  respect  to  himself  and  his 
works.  They  were  punched,  so  the  story  went,  in  order  to  assure  Barye 
of  their  identity  under  distressing  circumstances.  Forced  by  poverty 
to  put  them  in  pawn,  he  feared  that  the  broker  might  substitute  a copy 
for  the  genuine  piece  and  took  this  method  to  authenticate  his  own 
work  and  make  it  easy  to  detect  a fraud.  Though  not  destitute  of  a 
certain  foundation,  the  legend  as  it  stands  is  apocryphal.  The  mean- 
ing of  these  punched  numbers  is  simply  this : Barye  was  a very  scrupu- 
lous man  who  pushed  conscientiousness  to  lengths  that  gave  him  no 
little  financial  harm  at  the  time.  He  did  not  wish  that  he  should  forget, 
or  any  buyer  be  in  doubt,  how  many  copies  of  a given  bronze  had  been 
uttered  previous  to  the  one  then  sold.  Stamp  17  in  this  case  meant 
that  sixteen  copies  of  the  Lion  and  Gruiba  Antelope  had  previously  been 
made.  In  the  end  he  found  numbering  copies  impracticable  and  gave  it  up. 
Very  few  pieces  are  stamped  above  one  hundred.  As  regards  the  patina 
however  the  number  did  not  hold.  None  of  the  sixteen  might  approach 
the  seventeenth  in  the  beauty  of  the  patina  which  his  skillful  care  had 
spread  over  the  bronze. 

For  Barye  was  without  a question  the  most  accomplished  bronze 
founder  in  the  world.  Like  the  Japanese  artists,  like  those  of  Florence 
in  the  time  of  Benvenuto  Cellini,  he  was  equipped  at  all  points,  though 
from  lack  of  capital  his  workshop  was  not  so  well  appointed  as  it 
might  have  been.  He  was  not  only  a master  of  form  ; he  was  a color- 
ist. The  secret  of  the  green  patinas  found  on  bronzes  at  Pompeii  was 
pondered  by  him.  Whether  that  green  was  due  merely  to  the  mois- 
ture of  the  earth  or  was  also  partly  due  to  coloring  produced  at  the 
moment  of  casting,  the  fact  remained  that  a certain  degree  of  it  is 
most  charming  to  the  eye.  A fine  color  is  that  on  a Walking  Elephant 
shown  in  the  illustration  which  belongs  to  Mr.  T.  B.  Clarke,  a light 
brown  patina.  Others  are  almost  black,  so  dark  is  the  brown  or  green. 


57 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


Barye  understood  well  enough  how  to  give  to  bronze  an  even 
patina  that  looks  like  the  green  varnish  we  find  on  lizards  in  metal 
from  Italy.  But  he  aspired  to  produce  something  finer.  He  wished 
to  catch  the  effect  of  a patina  of  a green  tint  which  lingers  in  the 
crevices  of  a bronze  and  by  handling  has  been  rubbed  from  the 
superior  planes.  Night  and  day  he  reflected  on  methods  to  enrich 
bronzes  without  making  them  inartistieally  bright;  many  were  his 
failures  but  also  signal  were  his  triumphs.  In  any  large  collection  of 
his  bronzes  it  is  only  necessary  to  observe  the  variety  of  greens,  bronze- 
browns  and  golden-bronzes  that  meet  the  eye  to  assure  oneself  of  his 
quality  as  a colorist  of  a sober  but  subtle  kind.  Some  of  them  give  the 
effect  of  a very  close  velvet.  Others  seem  like  a rich  brown  bronze  in 
which  spicules  of  gold  are  embedded.  Upon  still  others  a green  patina 
is  detected  only  here  and  there,  but  in  a general  view  its  effect  is  pro- 
duced without  being  at  first  accounted  for.  A great  gathering  of  works 
by  Barye,  such  as  took  place  this  year  in  the  spring  at  Paris  and  the 
autumn  at  New  York,  is  valuable  among  other  things  for  the  chance  it 
affords  to  compare  the  same  piece  in  its  different  shades  and  varieties 
of  patina.  It  is  a study  which  Barye  himself  did  but  initiate  ; circum- 
stances prevented  him  from  carrying  it  very  far. 

There  is  however  in  this  direction  a field  for  the  development  of 
bronze  surfaces  which  the  founders  in  Paris  like  M.  Barbedienne  have 
by  no  means  explored.  Color  in  bronze  statues  has  been  generally  left  to 
chance.  When  a public  statue  is  cleaned  it  is  scraped  and  rubbed  from 
top  to  bottom  and  a coating  applied,  the  results  from  which  are,  that  for 
a time  the  bronze  looks  uncomfortably  shiny,  then  grows  dull  and  ends 
by  appearing  soiled  and  covered  with  streaks  and  blotches.  Study  of 
smaller  hronzes  will  teach  the  lesson  that  public  monuments  should  not 
be  overhauled  at  the  end  of  ten  years  or  so  by  irresponsible  and  ignorant 
employees  of  some  department  of  a city’s  government.  They  should  be 
under  the  constant  care  of  men  who  know  how  by  judicious  rubbings 
to  bring  out  the  finest  points  of  a bronze  and  keep  these  always  promi- 
nent. It  would  have  been  well  had  Barye  put  on  record  what  are  the 


58 


PANTHER  DEVOURING  GAZELLE 


THE  EAGLE  FOR  THE  ARCH  OF  TRIUMPH 


best  methods  of  preserving  bronze  statues,  for  no  one  has  lived  who 
understood  so  much  on  the  subject  from  direct  practical  research. 
Moreover  he  was  able  to  observe  for  forty-two  years  the  effects  of  a 
city  atmosphere  on  one  large  bronze,  the  Tuileries  lion.  Unfortunately 
he  incurred  by  such  studies  the  ill-will  of  the  professional  founders  in 
bronze,  who  succeeded  in  giving  currency  to  the  report  that  his  green 
patinas  were  deleterious  to  the  health  of  those  who  cast  and  owned  them. 


Ill 

The  patronage  of  Louis  Philippe  and  his  little  prime  minister  did  not 
stop  at  orders  for  small  bronzes.  It  considered  the  employment  of  such 
extraordinary  talents  as  Barye  had  developed  for  the  adornment  of  the 
public  squares.  In  his  enthusiasm  for  Barye  there  was  talk  by  M. 
Thiers  of  large  figures  to  decorate  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  perhaps 
the  most  important  square  of  the  city.  But  there  were  detractors 
whispering  in  his  ear,  or  the  enthusiasm  was  but  flash  in  the  pan  ; 
certain  it  is  that  instead  of  decorating  the  Place  the  bridge  was  proposed, 
namely  the  four  corners  of  the  parapet  on  two  sides  of  the  Seine. 
Then  the  proposition  fell  to  a group  for  one  of  the  four  corners ; but 
there  is  no  evidence  that  Barye  ever  got  a commission  even  for  that. 

Then  there  was  another  scheme  devised  by  M.  Thiers  to  afford  Barye 
a chance  to  show  his  genius  on  a grandiose  scale.  To  Rude  had  been 
given  the  decoration  of  one  facade  of  the  Arc  de  Triomphe,  to  sculptors 
of  high  rank  but  commonplace  works  the  other  reliefs.  The  little  states- 
man felt  that  Barye  was  the  man  to  put  the  finishing  touch  to  the  Arc 
de  Triomphe  by  a piece  of  sculpture  in  which  prettiness  and  ‘finished’ 
workmanship  had  no  part,  something  grand  and  simple  which  might 
gather  up  into  itself  the  superb  idea  of  the  armies  of  the  republic 
sallying  forth  and  subjugating  the  kings  of  the  rest  of  Europe. 

Barye  was  asked  to  submit  a design.  Barye  submitted  the  design. 
It  was  a large  model  of  an  Eagle,  about  seventy  feet  from  tip  to  tip 
of  its  outspread  wings,  alighting  on  the  spoils  of  war  gathered  from 


59 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


many  nations.  This  should  symbolize  the  Grand  Army  on  the  top  of 
the  newly  finished  arch.  It  should  also  symbolize  France,  screaming 
defiance  to  the  nations  once  subdued,  but  soon  her  subduers  in  turn, 
giving  them  plainly  to  understand  that  what  had  once  occurred  might 


meut  Thiers  gave  the  sculptor  an  order  for  a colossal  lion.  But  about 
that  too  the  shifty  statesman  managed  to  change  his  mind  and  the 
commission  was  never  filled. 

This  however  was  not  the  first  scheme  for  the  decoration  of  the  Arc 
de  Triomphe  in  a grandiose  way  which  came  to  nothing  in  the  councils 
of  Louis  Philippe.  A proposal  by  Chenavard  was  to  treat  the  arch  as 
Titus  did  the  triumphal  arch  near  the  forum  at  Rome.  Napoleon  the 
Great  was  to  stand  enthroned  on  a chariot  drawn  by  a classical  span  of 
horses.  At  the  four  corners,  on  horseback  however,  not  on  foot  like 
the  heirs  of  Titus,  were  to  be  the  effigies  of  Napoleon’s  brothers  and 
Prince  Murat.  On  the  ground  about  it  were  to  stand  the  twelve 
marshals  of  France  like  the  peers  about  Charlemagne. 

The  Salon  of  1836  accepted  the  Seated  Lion  which  was  afterwards 
bought  by  government  and  placed  in  bronze  beside  the  postern  of  the 


No.  40. 

Eagle  Alighting. 
Bronze.  Height,  10  inches. 


happen  again.  A bold,  too  bold  a 
scheme!  Thiers  approved,  tempor- 
ized, consulted,  dilly-dallied  — and 
finally  gave  up  the  plan,  alleging 
that  if  carried  out  it  would  give 
offense  in  quarters  where  France 
could  not  afford  to  offend.  The 
large  model  of  the  Eagle  of  the 
Grand  Army  appears  to  have  been 
utterly  lost.  The  statuette  of  an 
eagle  with  outspread  wings  on  a 
rock  may  perhaps  be  a study  for 
the  Grand  Army  eagle  which  Barye 
afterwards  wrought  out  on  a small 
scale.  To  salve  over  the  disappoint- 


60 


RESOLVES  NOT  TO  EXHIBIT  AT  THE  SALON 


Louvre  which  issues  on  the  quay,  but  refused  all  his  smaller  objects. 
Some  one  defined  their  reason  by  exclaiming  ‘ this  inroad  of  beasts  into 
sculpture  is  owing  to  their  easy  production  and  retailing.’  Thus  Barye 
had  to  suffer  because  men  said  that  his  wares  were  too  commercial  and 
savored  too  much  of  the  shop.  We  shall  presently  see  that  the  other 
or  commercial  world  was  equally  inimical. 

The  Lion  and  Serpent  for  the  Tuileries  which  was  modeled  in  1832 
shown  in  plaster  in  1833  and  cast  in  bronze  by  Honore  Gonon  and 
his  two  sons  in  1835  appeared  at  the  Salon  of  1836.  There  was 
a continuance  of  attacks  from  the  sculptors  and  official  critics,  but 
the  public  was  delighted  and  Barye’s  champions  were  not  idle. 
One  of  these  remarked : ‘ The  most  skillful  carver  undoubtedly 

would  have  failed  to  translate  the  thought  of  the  artist  with  equal 
fidelity ; that  is  why  we  are  glad  this  work  was  not  carried  out  in 
marble.  In  M.  Barye’s  manner  of  working  there  is  a realism  in  the 
details  which  would  confound  the  customary  usages  of  the  chisel. 
When  the  wax  itself  has  been  retouched  by  the  sculptor  and  metal 
takes  the  place  of  the  wax,  then  the  resulting  figure  preserves  all 
the  charm  of  the  clay  and  seems  to  have  issued  fresh  from  the  hands 
of  its  author.’ 

But  while  these  disputes  were  raging  he  was  conceiving  and  beginning 
to  formulate  the  celebrated  group  Theseus  Balling  Minotaur.  He  was 
also  at  work  on  the  charming  equestrian  statuette  of  General  Bonaparte 
and  was  able  to  get  it  cast  by  the  wax  process  of  Honor6  Gonon 
before  the  latter  died.  The  rejection  of  his  small  pieces  seemed  to  him 
to  prove  so  rooted  a hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Salon  that  he  resolved 
to  do  without  exhibitions  hereafter.  That  commerce  with  which  he  had 
been  taunted  should  be  his  salvation.  He  proposed  to  eschew  the  favor 
of  hypocrites  who  talked  of  ‘ grand  art  ’ and  ‘ art  without  thought  of 
gain,’  yet  all  the  while  were  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  obtain  a patron 
for  whose  money  they  were  ready  to  do  anything  he  asked.  His  work- 
shop should  be  to  him  the  only  exhibition-ground  hereafter  and  his 
critics  those  who  came  with  money  in  poke  and  a wish  to  buy  in  their 


61 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


minds.  To  this  resolve  he  adhered  with  characteristic  doggedness. 
After  1837  he  never  showed  a piece  in  the  Salon  until  the  year  1850, 
when  his  exhibits  must  have  astonished  a great  many  people  whose 
memories  of  the  Salon  fell  short  of  fifteen  years. 

Unfortunately  for  Barye  he  had  no  rich  capitalist  who  would  lend  him 
money  to  embark  as  a sculptor  of  animals  for  the  people  and  take  the 
chances  of  the  result.  A Maecenas  of  that  sort  is  in  sooth  oftener  talked 
about  than  seriously  forthcoming  for  mention  by  the  truthful  muse 
of  history.  He  needed  capital,  but  could  only  get  it  by  the  usual 
methods,  by  making  himself  responsible  for  its  repayment.  Doubtless 
if  he  had  shared  the  irresponsible,  happy-go-lucky  nature  of  some  artists 
he  would  have  managed  to  get  the  money,  and  if  things  turned  out  ill, 
shrugged  his  shoulders  and  left  his  friends  to  digest  their  losses  as  best 
might  be.  But  such  was  not  Barye’s  nature  at  all.  On  the  contrary  he 
strove  with  all  his  might  to  win  the  fickle  goddess  to  his  side  and  when 
she  would  not  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  see  his  creditors  righted. 

About  1838  he  must  have  first  gone  into  debt.  The  revolution  of  1848 
scared  the  lenders  and  they  demanded  repayment  which  Barye  could 
not  then  make.  When  they  pressed  for  payment  and  insisted  there  was 
no  escape.  All  his  finished  bronzes,  all  his  models  and  stock  in  trade 
went  to  a founder  named  Martin,  and  the  sculptor  had  the  bitter  grief 
of  knowing  that  in  all  probability  slovenly,  if  not  altered,  statuettes 
signed  with  his  name,  would  be  sold  by  the  creditors.  The  reaction  that 
always  comes  when  work  of  a fine  standard  is  repeated  in  a poorer  style 
struck  not  only  at  the  price  of  his  works  but  at  his  reputation.  It  was 
not  till  1857  that  Barye  finally  cleared  his  skirts  of  a venture  into  which 
pique  at  the  jury  of  the  Salon  and  a mistaken  estimate  of  his  powers  as 
a salesman  hurried  him. 

That  melancholy  which  was  noted  in  him  may  have  taken  root  during 
these  trying  years.  One  would  like  to  think  that  the  little  bronze  wolf 
in  the  trap,  of  which  we  have  here  an  autotype,  was  his  way  of  express- 
ing what  a man  of  his  powers  of  silence  could  not  give  in  words.  How 
perfectly  he  has  caught  the  agony  of  a beast  that  never  can  be  tamed, 


¥£OLE  CAUGHT  IN  TRAP 


f 


/ 


J 


A POOR  SALESMAN  AND  IN  DEBT 


as  it  finds  itself  rooted  to  the  spot  aud  lifts  its  head  to  utter  a long  dis- 
mal howl ! Even  a wolf  can  have  pathos  under  Barye’s  hand. 

It  was  an  odd  sort  of  salesman  Barye  made.  Instead  of  telling  the 
people  who  came  to  see  him  in  the  out-of-the-way  spot  where  his  shop 
and  dwelling  were  that  this  or  the  other  piece  had  been  admired  by 
princes  and  the  original  or  first  proof  bought  by  them,  he  left  the  visitor 
to  his  own  devices  and  appeared  more  unwilling  to  part  with  his  bronzes 
than  eager  to  sell.  If  the  buyer  was  an  amateur  he  found  in  the  seller  a 
shrewd  critic.  Often  Barye  insisted  on  improvements  or  a fresh  cast- 
ing of  the  piece  before  letting  it  go. 

The  financial  difficulties  in  which  he  presently  found  himself  involved 
were  not  lightened  by  his  methods  of  work.  Much  thought  and  many 
abortive  stiidies  for  a statuette  or  a group  went  to  the  final  result  and 
meantime  the  business  side  of  his  venture  languished.  He  was  con- 
scientious to  a fault  and  feared  more  than  anything  else  that  work  which 
was  not  up  to  his  ideals  should  leave  the  shop.  Hence  negotiations  that 
promised  well  were  sometimes  broken  off  by  what  appeared  mere  whim 
on  the  part  of  the  sculptor.  What  the  world  wants  in  art  as  well  as 
literature  so  called  is  a staple  article  which  can  be  furnished  in  quan- 
tity after  a demand  for  it  has  arisen.  Now  the  smaller  bronze  articles, 
having  to  be  repeated  almost  indefinitely,  seem  just  the  things  that 
might  be  supplied;  and  so  they  are  if  the  founder  is  not  pursued  by 
the  fear  of  offering  occasionally  second-rate  work.  Barye’s  bronzes 
produced  in  a fine  establishment  like  that  of  M.  Barbedienne  are 
guaranteed  by  the  stamp  of  that  bronze-founder  as  articles  always  fully 
worth  their  price.  But  Barye  bronzes  cast  by  Barye  had  a variable 
element  which  made  some  above  the  average  and  others  below.  If  no 
one  was  keener  than  the  sculptor  to  perceive  what  was  superior,  no 
one  was  also  more  sensitive  to  what  fell  below.  We  find  the  same  thing 
among  the  artist  artisans  of  Japan. 

Americans  in  Japan  who  try  to  cater  to  a taste  in  their  countrymen 
for  Japanese  articles  above  the  ordinary  are  met  by  a singular  inability 
on  the  part  of  Japanese  artisans  to  give  them  in  quantity  some  article 


63 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


of  which  they  have  produced  an  admirable  specimen.  Say  it  is  an 
exquisite  cup  that  the  intelligent  caterer  for  the  home  market  has  dis- 
covered. He  summons  the  artisan  and  makes  a contract  with  him  for 
six  dozen  such  cups  with  saucers  to  match,  each  cup  and  saucer  to  be 
the  exact  quality  of  the  specimen.  The  Japanese  sucks  in  his  breath, 
bows  to  the  ground  and  guarantees  that  by  a certain  date  they  shall  be 
delivered.  The  day  arrives  and  with  it  the  Oriental.  The  cups  are 
unpacked — and  not  one  is  exactly  the  same  ; in  the  eyes  of  the  Ameri- 
can not  one  is  as  fine  as  the  specimen  cup.  The  buyer  is  indignant  and 
refuses  to  accept  them,  declaring  the  bargain  null  and  void  according 
to  the  words  of  the  contract.  The  Japanese  sucks  in  his  breath,  bows 
to  the  ground,  smiles  amicably,  packs  up  his  cups  and  bows  himself 
away.  He  has  done  his  best.  It  is  the  foreigner  who  demands  the 
impossible  because  he  does  not  understand  the  nature  of  the  people  and 
the.  way  of  the  native  workman. 

Barye  has  many  points  of  likeness  with  the  Japanese  worker  in  metals, 
that  marvelous  fellow  who  has  produced  such  wonderful  bronzes,  often 
ornamented  with  a profusion  we  hold  to  be  lacking  in  taste,  but  also  at 
times  severe  and  simple  as  the  best  Greek  art.  It  is  as  if  Barye,  sprung 
from  the  primeval  stratum  of  the  population  of  Europe,  a Turanian 
stratum  very  near  of  kin  with  the  main  strain  in  the  Japanese  com- 
pound, had  by  virtue  of  that  primitive  kinship  brought  forth  works  of 
art  which  have  a certain  similarity  in  their  mode  of  genesis  with  those 
of  the  farthest  Orient  — and  a strong  inner  resemblance  so  far  as  an 
artistic  blending  in  them  of  realism  and  impressionism  is  concerned. 


IV 

The  years  of  his  abstention  from  the  Salon  and  endeavor  to  enter  the 
lists  against  the  practical  bronze-founders  of  Paris  were  full  of  labor  and 
successful  creations.  The  Lion  Devouring  a Doe  in  the  collection  of 
Mr.  Cyrus  J.  Lawrence  is  dated  1837  and  has  touches  of  green  patina 
here  and  there.  As  the  picture  shows,  the  little  object  is  in  one  view 

64 


I 


v? 


I 


THE  PYTHON  SWALLOWING  A DOE 


horrible,  for  the  lion  is  all  over  the  poor  doe  and  is  hugging  her  chest 
into  his  mouth  with  a ferocity  that  makes  one’s  blood  run  cold.  Its 
tail  is  raised  with  an  expression  of  enjoyment  such  as  one  sees  in  the 
to-and-fro  movement  of  a cat’s  tail  while  it  crunches  a mouse.  The 
mane  of  the  lion  is  treated  in  great  flocks  of  hair.  The  Walters  Gallery 
has  a little  Listening  Stag  dated  1838,  which  is  a most  charming  bit. 
The  stag  has  the  fore  feet  close  together  and  gazes  off  with  an  alert, 
resolute  look.  Another  stag  about  the  same  in  size  holds  one  hoof  in 
the  air  with  a most  characteristic  gesture,  ready  to  give  the  stamp 
which  shall  be  the  signal  to  the  family  for  flight  just  so  soon  as  it 
shall  have  decided  where  the  danger  lies.  A recumbent  panther  with 
one  paw  on  a small  deer  of  Java  ( Cervus  muntjacj  its  jaws  open  in  a 
growl  of  warning  against  any  beast  that  shall  dispute  its  prize,  will 
be  found  among  the  Lawrence  pieces.  In  the  same  collection  a 
panther  of  Tunis  walking  dated  1840  is  remarkable  for  the  thickness 
of  its  legs,  for  in  the  usual  way  Barye  has  adhered  to  the  facts  of 
life  rather  than  sought  for  grace.  The  smooth  beast  crouches  on  the 
watch,  while  its  thick  tail  curls  dangerously.  To  this  period  belong 
also  the  Recumbent  Bull  seized  by  a Bear,  the  Bull  on  the  Defensive 
and  the  Rearing  Bull,  of  which  the  Walters  Gallery  possesses  first 
proofs.  In  1886  the  first  was  sold  for  $480  and  is  now  much  more 
costly.  The  bull  bellows  with  pain  and  strives  to  rise,  but  after  the 
nature  of  his  kind  must  get  on  its  hind  legs  first.  But  there  the  bear 
has  put  much  of  its  weight,  while  teeth  and  claws  are  buried  in  its 
victim.  Yet  the  latter  has  plenty  of  fight  left;  appearances  are  by 
no  means  all  in  favor  of  the  bear.  No.  1 proof  has  a fine  dark 
patina.  The  articulations  of  the  bull’s  tail  and  the  cording  of  its 
muscles  are  magnificently  accentuated. 

The  acme  of  the  horrible  however  is  reached  in  a long  low  bronze 
dated  1840,  of  which  proof  No.  2 is  in  the  Walters  collection.  Here 
a python  has  crushed  a doe  and  is  in  the  act  of  swallowing  it, 
head  foremost.  The  big  eye  of  the  victim  glazed  in  death  is  just 
about  to  slip  into  enormously  extended  jaws  while  its  body  is  still 


9 


65 


LIFE  OF  BAfiYE  THE  SCULPTOE 


held,  but  negligently  held,  in  a great  fold  of  the  reptile.  Barye  made 
a water-color  of  this  tragedy  of  the  forest  which  luckily  fell  into 
the  same  hands  as  the  bronze  and  supplies  the  colors  that  metals  can 
not  give  without  degenerating  into  a species  of  harlequin  art  we  find  in 
the  stores  for  modern  bric-a-brac. 

In  1846  the  group  of  a Centaur  perishing  under  the  hands  of  a Greek 
hero  was  begun  and  by  1848  it  was  finished.  I shall  speak  of  this 
later.  To  the  same  period  belong  the  specimens  in  the  Walters 
and  Avery  collections  of  a boar,  a short  spear  standing  upright  in 
its  side.  Here  also  we  may  place  the  statuettes  of  Charles  YII  He 
victorieux’  which  M.  Barbedienne  sells  now  in  two  sizes,  one  very  much 
larger  than  the  model  by  Barye.  Charles  VI,  Gaston  de  Foix  and  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  are  equestrian  statuettes  of  great  merit,  but  not  by 
any  means  Barye’s  best.  Here  we  may  also  place  the  Rampant  Bull 
pulled  down  by  Tiger,  of  which  Mr.  Richard  M.  Hunt  owns  a proof,  and 
the  bas-relief  Lion  of  the  Zodiac  so  called,  for  the  lower  part  of  the 
column  erected  on  the  site  of  the  Bastille. 

This  grand  lion  was  thought  so  well  of  recently  that  a plaster-cast 
was  demanded  for  the  Universal  Exposition  of  the  present  year.  The 
engineer  who  has  charge  of  the  column  refused  to  permit  a cast  to  be 
made.  His  reasons  are  interesting  and  perhaps  instructive  for  those 
who  own  fine  bronzes.  On  the  one  hand,  he  maintained  that  the  taking 
of  a cast  would  in  all  likelihood  injure  the  bronze  by  filling  up  the  fine 
cuts  and  by  scratching  the  surface ; on  the  other,  there  would  be  no 
knowing  what  effect  it  would  have  on  the  patina.  The  finest  effects  of 
the  bronze,  not  only  those  produced  by  the  founder  but  by  the  weather, 
might  be  ruined  forever.  This  piece  is  often  called  the  Lion  of  the 
Column  of  July. 

During  the  year  1846  Delacroix  painted  a beautiful  water-color  that 
makes  one  think  of  Barye,  a lion  with  a serpent  under  his  claws  now 
in  the  Walters  Gallery.  One  might  imagine  it  a plagiarism  on  the 
Tuileries  group,  just  as  one  may  often  be  tempted  to  think  that  water- 
colors  by  Barye  were  executed  under  the  influence  of  Delacroix.  But  we 

06 


STUDIES  MAN  THROUGH  THE  BEASTS 


are  now  able  to  see  that  each  was  working  independently  ever  since  those 
early  days  when  they  studied  animals  side  by  side  in  the  fair  of  St. 
Cloud  and  the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  The  suggestion  that  Barye  was 
beholden  to  Delacroix  in  anything  more  than  the  emulation  of  comrades 
must  be  absolutely  denied. 

It  is  natural  that  biographers  of  Barye  have  placed  at  the  end  of  their 
essays  the  human  figures  and  groups  in  which  man  is  the  important 
factor.  Certainly  he  did  make  his  mark  as  a sculptor  of  animals ; he 
was  greatest  in  the  new  field  which  he  struck  out.  But  we  have  seen 
that  his  earliest  known  work,  Milo  of  Crotona  Slain  by  a Lion,  was 
better  on  the  human  side  than  the  animal.  We  have  noted  his  busts 
and  a full-length  Saint  in  early  Salons,  and  then  the  extraordinarily 
able  figures  of  men  in  some  of  the  table-service  groups.  Inevitably  his 
merit  as  an  animal  sculptor  obscured  that  as  a statuary  of  men.  But 
his  human  figures  are  many  and  hardly  one  of  them  is  insignificant  or 
undignified.  He  seems  to  have  ever  returned  from  his  studies  of  beasts 
to  an  unhackneyed,  a powerful,  a Titanic  view  of  mankind,  by  exactly 
the  same  process  of  thought  through  which  those  scientific  men  pass 
who  approach  the  study  of  man’s  body  and  his  past  history  on  earth  by 
way  of  profound  researches  into  the  bodily  composition  and  the  char- 
acters of  animals.  It  was  by  the  constant  passage  from  nature  to  art  and 
from  art  to  nature  that  Barye  arrived  at  such  surprising  results  in  the 
sculpture  of  men  as  well  as  beasts. 

The  ancients  made  fables  of  various  enigmas  in  the  world  and  gave 
them  a literary  form  on  the  one  side  and  an  artistic  on  the  other.  It 
would  puzzle  the  profoundest  antiquarian  to  say  whether  myths  first 
began  with  a literary  or  an  artistic  germ.  We  may  be  certain  that  at  an 
extremely  primitive  epoch  myths  and  legends  were  formed  to  explain 
paintings  and  sculpture,  as  well  as  artistic  forms  created  to  embody 
myths.  The  interplay  of  these  two  forces  resulted  in  such  figures  as 
Pan  of  Arcadia  and  his  double,  Marsyas  of  Asia  Minor,  and  the  bear- 
headed  Artemis  once  worshipped  in  Attica;  also  the  strange,  fantastic 
gallery  of  gods  in  Egypt,  the  bull-headed  Molochs  and  the  Cherubim 


67 


LIFE  OF  BAR YE  THE  SCULPTOR 


that  stood  with  bodies  of  lion  or  bull  and  heads  of  men  at  the  portals 
of  Assyrian  palaces,  together  with  the  eagle-headed  adorers  of  the 
palm,  offering  the  male  element  of  that  beneficent  tree  in  the  shape 
of  a cone — a sacred  rite  which  we  find  carved  on  a thousand  slabs  in 
the  ruins  of  old  cities  on  the  Euphrates.  Considered  in  this  way  some 
clew  is  possible  through  the  labyrinths  of  the  Egyptian,  Semitic  and 
Greek  mythologies  which  have  hitherto  remained  deeply  shrouded  in 
mystery. 

Barye  was  permeated  with  the  scientific  spirit  of  the  age  but  his  ideas 
were  necessarily  lacking  in  the  clearness  they  might  have  gained  later 
in  the  century,  and  the  forms  in  which  to  express  them  were  necessarily 
limited  to  those  already  known  and  at  least  partially  accepted  as  beau- 
tiful by  men  of  cultivation.  He  could  not  very  well  model  an  imagi- 
nary Missing  Link,  that  figment  of  a popular  misconception  regarding 
theories  of  evolution.  He  could  not  even,  by  using  his  knowledge  of 
living  animals  and  the  record  of  extinct  forms  left  in  the  rocks,  create 
afresh  the  probable  appearance  of  former  denizens  of  the  earth, 
whether  human  or  not ; because  to  do  so  would  not  be  art  but  palaeon- 
tology. But  what  he  did  do  on  the  less  artistic  side  was  to  advance 
a step  from  the  combats  of  wild  creatures  to  the  first  faint  appearance 
of  the  subjection  of  one  beast  by  another  for  its  own  profit.  He  seems 
to  have  been  thinking  of  man  at  an  epoch  so  remote  that  while  he  was 
by  no  means  a monkey,  some  of  the  traits  now  found  in  the  apes 
had  not  been  eliminated  from  his  nature.  He  fashioned  perhaps  his 
boldest  and  certainly  one  of  his  least  beautiful  groups,  the  Ape  Biding 
a Gnu. 

The  gnu  is  an  African  creature  which  recalls  on  the  one  hand  the 
combination  of  animals  found  in  the  art  of  peoples  of  Asia  Minor  and 
through  them  the  Greeks,  such  as  the  Centaur,  Chimera,  Pegasus,  Bu- 
cephalus ; and  on  the  other  the  latest  doctrines  of  evolution ; because 
it  seems  to  retain  the  type  of  a creature  existing  in  an  age  when  the  pres- 
ent types  had  not  been  sundered.  Its  head  is  that  of  an  antelope, 
its  horns  and  feet  those  of  cattle,  its  mane,  body  and  tail  those  of  a 


68 


rrss- 


APE  RIDING  A GNU 


IDEAS  OF  EVOLUTION  SUGGESTED 


horse.  With  some  likelihood  the  gnu  may  be  considered  the  origin  of 
the  fabled  unicorn,  which  may  have  been  known  in  Europe  only  through 
profile  drawings  that  showed  but  one  of  its  two  horns,  and  that  one 
apparently  jutting  from  the  brow  of  a slender  horse. 

Barye  has  seized  on  this  extraordinary  figure,  partly  because  its  fine 
legs  and  flowing  tail  make  it  a graceful  object,  whatever  may  be  thought 
of  its  head ; and  on  its  back  he  placed  an  ape  in  the  act  of  essaying  to 
ride.  It  is  a large  ape  of  the  chimpanzee  vai-iety,  which  of  all  the  four- 
handed  race  is  closest  to  human  beings  in  intelligence.  The  look  of 
earnest  meditation  on  the  ape’s  face  as  he  attempts  this  wonderful  feat 
relieves  the  statuette  of  any  suspicion  of  the  comic.  Admirable  in  its 
ape-like  gravity  and  signs  of  thought,  the  positions  of  hands  and  feet 
are  no  less  characteristic.  The  long  arms  reach  with  ease  the  tail  of 
the  gnu  behind  and  a big  lock  of  the  mane  in  front,  thus  preventing  an 
upset  from  the  bucking  and  rearing  of  the  surprised  steed.  At  the 
same  time  the  other  pair  of  hands,  which  in  us  are  feet,  grip  the  barrel 
of  the  gnu  firmly  and  prevent  the  ape  from  slipping  to  either  side. 

We  have  here  an  object  less  beautiful,  less  terrible  than  the  lion 
smiting  a python  or  the  elephant  transfixing  a tiger  with  his  tusk. 
It  is  no  longer  strength  against  strength  and  the  weaker  to  the  wall ! 
Here  is  the  reign  of  brain  which  has  opened  that  chasm  between  human 
beings  and  beasts,  which  the  ancients  after  the  birth  of  Christ 
widened  beyond  all  reason,  and  which  the  moderns,  Barye  among  them, 
have  sought  to  properly  estimate  and  bridge.  This  neglected  statu- 
ette that  few  own  and  still  fewer  care  for,  is  in  some  respects  quite  the 
most  remarkable  work  that  ever  emanated  from  the  workshop  of  Barye’s 
mind.  It  brings  us  close  up  to  such  pieces  as  Theseus  Slaying  Minotaur, 
begun  in  1836,  finished  several  years  later,  and  bought  by  the  govern- 
ment for  the  provincial  museum  at  Le  Puy,  also  to  Theseus  Slaying  the 
Centaur  Biauor,  called  Centaur  and  Lapith  when  first  designed,  and 
causes  us  to  hark  back  to  the  hippogriff  in  the  splendid  flying  group  of 
Roger  Carrying  off  Angelica  belonging  to  the  creative  epoch  of  1840. 

Meantime  it  may  be  noted  that  in  1847  the  painter  Jeanson  succeeded 


69 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


in  having  the  Lion  in  Repose  or  Seated  Lion,  one  of  the  simplest  and 
most  majestic  pieces  by  Barye,  placed  at  the  entrance  to  the  Louvre  from 
the  quay.  One  lion  was  not  enough ; the  government  demanded  of  Barye 
a duplicate  to  be  placed  at  the  other  side  of  the  portal.  This  seemed 
an  artistic  heresy  which  the  sculptor  could  not  countenance.  For  him 
the  only  possible  comrade  for  the  Lion  in  Repose  would  be  another  figure 
which  might  not  cheapen  its  comrade  by  suggesting  an  indefinite  number 
of  Lions  in  Repose  cast  in  a mold,  and  might  form  an  opposite  neither 
too  symmetrical  nor  too  different.  The  lion  which  is  on  the  left  of  the 
gate  was  cast  by  the  ordinary,  not  the  wax  process,  and  then  the  dupli- 
cate was  made  for  the  right  side  but  reversed.  Barye  used  to  regard 
these  lions  with  no  little  grief,  for  if  one  was  cast  as  he  would  not  have 
cast  it,  the  other  seemed  to  him  an  outrage.  This  bronze  beast  goes  by 
the  name  of  Le  Philosophe  among  the  artistic  fraternity. 

In  1848  M.  Ledru  Rollin  found  the  opportunity  of  giving  Barye  some 
relief.  A curatorship  of  plaster-casts  was  vacant  and  its  small  salary 
was  a boon  to  the  ill-starred  man,  to  whom  a second  wife  had  already 
presented  a large  family  of  children.  But  let  us  look  at  another  phase  in 
Barye’s  development. 


V 

For  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  the  youngest  son  of  Louis  Philippe,  the 
sculptor  made  one  of  his  most  successful  small  pieces  of  beast  combat,  an 
Elephant  crushing  a Tiger.  One  of  the  elephant’s  hind  feet  is  crushing 
the  side  of  the  tiger ; another  fore  foot  pins  it  too,  and  the  head  is  turned 
to  one  side  to  allow  the  right  tusk  to  pierce  the  tiger’s  neck.  The  mod- 
eling of  the  great  bony  framework  of  the  elephant  is  superb  and  its 
concentration  of  power  beyond  all  praise.  For  Montpensier  he  also  pro- 
duced a stately  pair  of  candelabra  with  the  three  Graces  at  the  top  and 
the  three  Goddesses  who  made  of  Paris  their  judge  near  the  foot.  Be- 
tween are  three  chimeras  and  at  the  base  three  ornamental  masks. 
Part  of  the  same  commission  was  the  centre-piece.  These  candelabra 
were  to  light  the  Roger  Carrying  off  Angelica  on  the  Hippogriff.  None 


70 


ASIAN  ELEPHANT  CRUSHING  TTQER 


NO.  54. 

UDEli4.BR.UM 


Q < >D1 ' ess 


MRE> 


THE  HIPPOGRIFF  OF  ARIOSTO 


of  these  pieces  were  ever  exhibited  by  the  sculptor,  but  they  are  not 
unique  like  the  five  Hunts  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

The  hippogriff  exhibits  Barye’s  skill  in  uniting  the  characteristics  of 
several  creatures.  It  is  a horse-bird  upborne  on  the  spray  which  a dol- 
phin has  cast  skyward  from  the  sea  as  it  curls  itself  in  a spiral.  The 
ocean  sympathizes  with  the  lover  and  the  hippogritf  skims  the  waves 
with  an  eager  look  in  its  outstretched  head  like  the  wise  thing  it  is. 
Secure  on  its  broad  back  rides  the  confounder  of  magicians,  Roger  the 
Paladin,  pressing  to  his  steel  corslet  the  bare  bosom  of  the  maid  he  has 
rescued.  The  latter  is  an  instance  of  the  purity  of  Barye’s  conception  of 
woman,  for  Ariosto’s  description  of  that  ride  might  have  warranted  a 
much  less  delicate  treatment.  In  the  mellifluous  poem  Roger  does  not 
act  the  handsome  part  and  he  is  well  paid  for  his  coarseness.  He  forgets 
a certain  ring  that  makes  the  wearer  invisible,  but  Angelica  espies  it  in 
time  to  save  herself  from  a hero  who  is  ready  to  take  advantage  of  her 
predicament.  The  reader  may  remember  ho  w Roger,  having  turned  the 
Ore  or  marine  monster  to  stone  by  the  sight  of  his  magic  shield,  and 
having  taken  Angelica  the  victim  thus  rescued  on  his  winged  steed, 
was  not  sufficiently  delicate  with  her,  but  covered  her  bosom  and  eyes 
with  kisses. 

II  destrier  punto,  ponta  i pie  all’arena 
E balza  in  aria,  e per  le  ciel  galoppa ; 

E porta  il  cavaliero  in  su  la  schiena 
E la  donzella  dietro  in  su  la  groppa. 

Cose  privo  la  fera  della  cena 
Per  lei  soave  e delicata  troppa. 

Ruggier  si  va  volgendo,  e mille  baci 
Figge  nel  petto  e negli  occhi  vivace. 

Orlando  Fwioso.  Canto  X,  112. 

Lovely  and  tricky  Angelica  is  firm  and  well-grown  in  Barye’s  hand- 
ling, but  not  the  languishing  or  voluptuous  woman.  Roger’s  hand  on 
her  back,  as  he  holds  her  steady  with  a light,  firm  grasp,  is  a marvel- 
ously fine  bit  of  gesture.  It  is  protective  and  yet  tender,  but  seems  to 
hold  her  with  a respectful  touch.  There  is  no  caress  in  it,  as  if  his  love  for 


71 


LIFE  OF  BAKYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


Angelica  were  more  spiritual  than  fleshly  and  therefore  much  finer  than 
Ariosto  makes  it.  The  whirling  spray  and  the  hard-riding  attitude  of 
Roger  as  well  as  the  direction  of  Angelica’s  limbs  aid  the  impression 
of  a tremendous  rush  through  the  air. 

The  hippogriff  arose  slowly  in  his  mind  and  its  forming  may  be  traced 
in  a little  memorandum  book  now  owned  by  Mr.  Geo.  A.  Lucas  of  Paris. 
Olaus  Magnus  discourses  at  length  on  the  griffin,  maintaining  that  the 
ancients  conceived  it  as  an  enormous  eagle  to  the  shoulders,  but  the  rest 
like  a lion,  save  that  its  talons  were  a bird’s.  We  know  now  that  the 
tusks  of  mammoths  brought  from  Siberia  were  thought  the  claws  of 
this  fabulous  creature,  and  conjecture  that  the  tales  of  the  destruction  of 
gold  miners  and  seekers  after  precious  stones  it  was  fabled  to  make 
were  spread  in  order  to  frighten  people  away  from  the  lands  where  these 
are  to  be  found.  But  some  ancient  authorities  speak  of  the  griffin  as 
a winged  horse,  and  these  Barye  has  followed  to  great  advantage. 

Sir  John  Mandeville  believed  in  the  griffin,  if  not  the  hippogriff,  and 
explained  that  it  was  exactly  eight  times  larger  than  a lion  and  could 
carry  off  an  armed  man  and  his  horse  in  its  talons.  In  some  of  the  old 
editions  of  Olaus  Magnus  we  are  shown  a curious  wood-cut  of  this  very 
feat  performed  by  a lion-bird.  The  Roc  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  the 
now  extinct  Moa  of  Australasia,  the  Phoenix,  the  Laemmergeyer  that  is 
known  to  carry  off  young  children,  and  the  distorted  tales  of  great 
animals  found  in  the  earth,  met  together  with  astronomical  and 
mythological  fables  to  form  the  hippogriff  which  Barye  has  sent 
careering  so  blithely  across  the  wave-tops  bearing  its  amorous  freight 
of  hero  and  heroine  of  romance. 

The  Nine-Figure  Candelabrum  which  belongs  to  this  romantic  bronze 
is  another  evidence  of  Barye’s  force  as  a molder  of  the  human  figure. 
But  it  may  be  noted  that  his  touch  is  mediaeval  rather  than  modern.  It 
has  little  of  that  marvelous  deftness  we  find  in  the  sculpture  in  vogue 
nowadays.  Rather  do  the  figures  impress  one  with  strength  and 
unchangeableness  in  their  author.  Barye  had  enormous  versatility  in 
one  sense,  but  he  had  not  quick  adaptability  to  the  fashions  of  the  day. 


GODDESSES  ON  A CANDELABRUM 


That  made  it  unlikely  that  he  should  ever  amass  a fortune.  But  it  was 
also  the  balance  wheel  that  prevented  him  from  being  driven  from  his 
natural  path  by  ideas  that  contained  no  sound  and  living  truth. 

These  candelabra  have  the  Three  Graces  standing  with  interlocked 
arms  above  the  cups  for  the  candles.  Below  on  the  shaft  are  three 
Renaissance  monsters,  winged  panthers  with  the  breasts  of  women,  and 
about  the  lower  shaft  are  the  goddesses  who  have  undraped  them- 
selves to  await  the  verdict  of  Paris.  With  Juno  we  see  the  sceptre 
and  peacock  ; with  Venus  the  dolphin  in  memory  of  the  birth  of  Aphro- 
dite from  the  foam  of  the  sea;  with  Minerva  the  owl  and  sword.  The 
Graces  and  goddesses  are  exquisite  figures,  varied  in  their  poses  without 
seeming  to  call  attention  to  their  pose,  and  brought  into  harmonious 
groups  of  three.  The  character  of  each  goddess  is  expressed  by  the 
inclination  of  each  head,  the  expression  of  each  face  and  body.  Thus 
Minerva  is  self-reliant  as  befits  a warrior-maid.  Juno  sits  haughtily  with 
her  sceptre  touching  the  ground,  her  head  bent  and  one  wrist  resting 
on  her  lap.  Venus  looks  out  from  the  group  with  a direct  challenge, 
twists  her  body  to  show  herself  to  advantage  and  yet  clings  to  Minerva 
as  if  she  felt  in  that  stern  goddess  the  masculine  quality  that  is  wanting 
to  the  purely  feminine  deity  of  Cyprus.  So  closely  will  even  a candle- 
stick by  Barye  bear  inspection  ; and  repay  it  so  well. 

In  the  year  1847  he  was  permitted  to  decorate  the  Iena  Bridge 
over  the  Seine  with  the  large  eagles  that  may  still  be  seen  upon  it 
and  later  it  was  the  Pont  Neuf  for  which  he  prepared  nearly  one 
Imndred  mascarons  or  architectural  masks.  Unexhibited  work  had 
been  accumulating  in  his  atelier.  A predilection  for  the  Bear-Hunt 
in  the  sculptor’s  own  mind  may  account  for  the  fact  that  during 
this  period  he  wrought  two  subsidiary  portions  of  the  group  into  inde- 
pendent statuettes,  which  teach  us  to  analyze  and  admire  more  the 
component  parts  of  that  decoration  for  the  table  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
The  huntsman  on  foot  who  slashes  at  one  of  the  bears  was  now  cast 
separately,  but  in  place  of  a sword  he  wields  a quarter-staff  with 
a vigor  that  has  a parallel  in  the  younger  combatant  over  a game 


IO 


73 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


of  cards  painted  by  Meissonier  in  Le  Rixe,  the  famous  canvas  pre- 
sented by  Louis  Napoleon  to  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert  of 
England.  Tbe  costumes  of  the  bear  hunters  are  called  German  of  the 
middle  ages.  Barye  named  the  statuette  Mediaeval  Peasant.  The  illus- 
tration in  autotype  is  taken  from  the  copy  in  the  Corcoran  Gallery 
which  appears  to  be  unique  in  the  United  States.  Another  portion  of 
the  Bear-Hunt  which  may  be  assigned  to  this  period  is  the  Bear  Flying 
from  Three  Mastiffs,  while  the  Bear  Overthrown  by  Three  Mastiffs 
which  was  shown  in  the  Salon  of  1833  and  will  be  found  earlier  in 
this  book  in  an  autotype  print  is  yet  one  more  part  of  the  Bear- 
Hunt.  These  are  by  no  means  unusual  examples  of  Barye’s  method 
in  composing  and  decomposing  his  groups.  The  Fawn  Couchant 
and  Doe  Coiichant  with  Head  Erect,  which  are  among  the  most 
delightful  single  pieces,  are  also  found  in  the  Family  of  Red  Deer 
seen  in  the  fifteenth  illustration.  We  are  therefore  warranted  in  the 
inference  that  each  was  modeled  separately,  and  that  Barye,  after 
casting  the  composite  piece  and  finding  that  it  was  admired,  cast  each 
separately  in  order  to  accommodate  those  buyers  wdiose  purses  were  too 
empty  to  indulge  in  the  groups.  But  there  is  this  also  to  remember. 
For  many  persons  the  complicated  groups  are  too  complicated.  Such  a 
tangled  skein  as  the  Elk-Hunt  affects  them  unfortunately.  They  do  not 
like  to  give  the  time  to  unravel  the  meaning  of  the  group  and  enjoy  the 
action  of  so  many  animals  and  men  in  frantic  movement.  In  other 
words  they  can  thoroughly  love  and  revel  in  a tune,  but  are  worried  by 
a symphony.  With  a longer  acquaintance  this  feeling  wears  off  and 
the  large  groups  win  their  way  to  the  heart. 

The  wood-cut  of  a Jaguar  Devouring  an  Agouti  belongs  to  1847  or 
thereabouts.  It  was  fashioned  by  Barye  while  he  was  groping  his  way 
toward  the  Jaguar  Devouring  a Hare  which  we  shall  consider  later,  and 
has  almost  all  the  marvelous  vigor  of  that  marvelous  bronze,  best  seen 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  in  the  Walters  Collection. 

The  revolution  of  1848  made  many  changes,  but  for  Barye  the  most 
important  was  the  abolition  of  the  jury  from  the  Institute  which  he 


74 


No.  57.  Seated  Lion,  called  Le  Philosophe,  Quai  du  Louvre  (bronze). 


COMBAT  OF  THESEUS  AND  CENTAUR 


thought,  either  rightly  or  wrongly,  by  intention  unfair  to  him.  The 
Salon  of  1850  had  a jury  composed  of  artists;  it  was  this  jury  who 
accepted  the  group  of  Theseus  Slaying  the  Centaur  Bianor,  or  Centaur 
and  Lapith  as  it  was  first  called.  Begun  in  1846  it  was  finished  in 
1848.  The  Government  bought  it,  but  only  to  relegate  it  to  the  provin- 
cial museum  at  Le  Buy,  where  tourists  seldom  came  and  no  benefit 
could  accrue  for  its  author  by  its  exhibition.  The  objection  made  to  a 
proposition  that  it  should  stand  enlarged  on  some  public  spot  in  Paris 
was  that  it  is  too  mythological ! The  objection  was  not  serious,  or  else 
it  was  ignorantly  made,  for  Paris  like  most  European  capitals  swarms 
with  mythological  statues  of  greater  or  less  flatness.  The  real  objection 
was — people  were  not  prepared  for  it.  There  was  need  of  precedents 
to  accustom  men  to  the  idea  of  a statue  embodying  this  particular 
myth.  Without  them  few  amateurs  were  independent  enough  to  admire 
a novelty. 

In  the  centaur  the  sculptor  turned  to  the  treasury  of  Greek  myth, 
as  in  the  Ape  Riding  a Gnu  he  had  allowed  his  scientific  studies  to 
keep  the  upper  hand.  The  Centaur  is  the  horseman  poeticised ; he  is 
the  Turkoman  who  lives  on  horseback  and  who  terrorized  northern 
Persia  until  Russia  overran  liis  land ; the  Hun  who  caused  Europe  to 
tremble  from  end  to  end.  Not  only  is  the  centaur  a figure  which  might 
be  expected  to  appeal  to  men  for  whom  a classical  education  is  the  highest 
aim,  but  the  composition  is  far  from  unknown  of  a centaur  overcome 
by  a bacchanal  or  a winged  genius,  if  not  by  a hero.  It  occurs  in  a 
playful  variant  at  least  once  on  walls  in  Pompeii,  where  not  only  the 
male  but  the  female  centaur  was  a favorite  decoration.  Barye  however 
did  not  work  from  some  classical  precedent  down  to  modern  times,  but 
wrought  his  modern  ideas  into  forms  that  assumed  classical  shapes  in 
order  to  please  the  tastes  of  his  educated  fellow-countrymen.  Hence 
the  Centaur  succumbing  to  the  blows  of  one  of  the  Lapithae  or  of  their 
friend  Theseus  is  a fresh  creation  worked  out  from  original  ideas.  Had 
he  done  otherwise  it  would  not  have  made  the  profound  impression  that 
stands  to  its  credit. 


75 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


‘ What  looks  like  fun,  laughter  or  perhaps  the  intoxication  of  love 
or  wine  in  the  famous  Centaur  of  the  Capitol,  appears  a mad  struggle 
for  existence  in  the  group  by  Barye  of  Theseus  Killing  the  Centaur 
Bianor.  It  is  the  tragic  antithesis.  The  centaurs  may  be  allied  in  art 
to  the  genii  ( Tcerub ) of  Mesopotamia,  but  in  history  it  is  likely  that 
they  represent  a tribe,  not  a religion  ; a token,  not  a faith.  When  first 
mentioned  the  centaurs  have  no  special  monster  trait.  We  can  see  in 
many  early  sculptures  the  gradual  evolution  of  the  centaur  on  Greek 
soil ; first  the  man  being  the  larger  — a monster  man  with  the  equine 
barrel  and  hind  legs  added  to  the  complete  human  figure ; then  with 
the  horse  preponderating,  a four-hoofed  beast  with  a human  torso  in 
the  place  of  the  horse’s  neck.  In  the  arts  we  can  watch  the  centaur 
becoming  less  and  less  man,  more  and  more  horse,  thus  corroborating 
history  which  does  not  assign  to  the  centaur  tribes  physical  mon- 
strosity, but  savagery  and  moral  depravity.  The  centaurs  in  art  are 
curiously  parallel  to  the  Asian  naan-bulls  (kerub),  and  if  the  meaning 
of  their  name  as  the  learned  explain  it  is  correct,  namely  “ bull- 
drivers” — compare  the  vulgar  Western  term  “ cow-punchei*s  ” — and 
later  “horse-bull-drivers”  (hippocentaurs)  it  is  extremely  likely  that 
we  owe  the  centaur  of  Greek  art  to  a mixture  of  ideas  among  the  Greeks 
of  the  Asia  Minor  coast.  They  had  seen  on  the  Euphrates,  cut  in  soft 
stone,  the  majestic  man-bulls,  and  heard  from  Greece  of  the  equestrian 
bull-drivers  whose  crest  was  a horse’s  head.  In  all  probability  we  have 
a singular  and  complete  instance  of  the  mai’ch  of  a Semitic  art-idea 
from  Asia  into  Europe,  which  idea  became  Aryanized  in  the  process, 
changing  from  the  bull,  more  common  to  Semitic  moon-worship  (the 
golden  calf,  the  brazen  serpent,  Moloch,  Astarte,  Baal)  to  the  horse,  the 
favorite  Aryan  symbol  of  the  sun.’  * 

The  Centaur  and  Lapith  as  it  was  first  called  differs  in  certain  par- 
ticulars  from  its  secondary  form  here  given  and  named  with  more 
particularity  the  Combat  of  Theseus  and  the  Centaur  Bianor.  In  the 

* Antoine  Louis  Barye.  In  The  Century  Magazine,  February,  1886.  By  Henry 
Eckford  (Charles  de  Kay). 


76 


No.  58.  Panther  Devouring  an  Agouti. 


t 


IMPROVEMENT  ON  THE  FIRST  DESIGN 


former  state  the  raised  fore-foot  of  the  centaur  has  hoof  and  pastern 
straighter  forward  and  the  tail  straighter  out  behind,  as  if  movement 
had  hardly  been  arrested.  The  drapery  is  different  and  the  hair  of  the 
centaur’s  head  is  less  broadly  treated  than  it  became  later.  His  left 
hand,  which  may  be  seen  clawing  the  air,  was  gripped  on  the  Lapith’s 
shoulder  and  his  face  expressed  less  the  supreme  agony.  The  Lapith’s 
right  knee  was  pressed  to  the  barrel  of  the  human  horse  and  his  left 
hand  instead  of  pushing  the  centaur’s  head  grasps  his  throat.  In  gen- 
eral it  may  be  said  that  Barye  altered  the  group  by  advancing  from  an 
earlier  stage  of  the  combat  to  the  crisis.  The  hoofs  stumble,  the  mouth 
of  the  centaur  is  wide  in  death,  the  grip  of  Theseus  ou  his  throat  appears 
almost  to  have  done  its  work  and  the  blow  of  the  rude  club  on  the 
cranium  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  finish  a throttled  monster.  The  earlier 
variant  may  be  detected  at  a glance  by  the  absence  of  a clump  of  cactus 
which  was  substituted  on  the  base  of  the  statuette  for  a rock. 

Perhaps  nothing  shows  better  the  master  mind  than  the  ability  to 
alter  a successful  work  without  gravely  harming  it.  But  a change 
from  some  unidentified  Lapith  in  combat  with  some  centaur  without 
name  to  an  individual  in  the  final  struggle  with  a given  centaur  was 
in  the  right  direction.  The  hero  being  god-like  Theseus,  there  must  be 
no  question  how  the  battle  is  going.  Bianor  can  not  be  carrying  him 
off ; for  such  children  of  the  sun  as  Theseus  cannot  be  shown  in  a 
doubtful  situation  when  their  hour  of  triumph  arrives ; nor  can  the 
sometimes  beneficent,  but  generally  baleful  demons  of  the  earth 
(kerubs  and  centaurs)  be  depicted  otherwise  than  succumbing  to 
their  heavenly  foes. 

An  examination  of  the  Theseus  Slaying  Bianor  at  the  Metropoli- 
tan Museum,  an  enlarged  bronze  from  the  workshop  of  Barye  himself, 
will  repay  a visit.  One  should  bear  in  mind  the  Ape  Riding  a Gnu 
and  compare  the  different  ways  in  which  Barye  lias  shown,  on  the 
one  hand  the  first  glimmer  of  an  idea  of  subjecting  animals  for  use, 
and  on  the  other  the  complete  control  of  an  animal-man  by  the  most 
perfected  human  being.  Theseus  uses  his  feet  to  maintain  his  hold, 


77 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


digging  the  big  toe  into  the  hollow  before  the  centaur’s  flank ; but 
how  differently  does  the  ape  balance  himself  on  the  gnu,  also  em- 
ploying the  toes  to  keep  itself  secure ! Theophile  Gautier  remarked : 
‘ People  are  astonished  because  a sculptor  who  modeled  animals  so  well 
made  such  a success  when  he  fashioned  men  and  heroes,  just  as  if  the 
form  were  not  the  same  under  all  its  apparent  diversity;  as  if  it  could 
have  any  secrets  hidden  from  a thinker  gifted  with  an  eye  as  piercing  as 
Barye’s.’ 

At  this  late  day  France  could  not  do  better  than  erect  a Theseus 
Slaying  Bianor  in  bronze  the  size  of  life  or  of  heroic  proportions,  cast 
by  the  wax  process  or  as  Gustave  Planche  suggested  in  marble.  It 
should  stand  somewhere  in  the  Tuileries  gardens  in  memory  of  the 
sculptor.  Not  that  in  the  present  day  great  sculptors  are  lacking. 
When  M.  de  Nieuwerkercke  was  placed  by  Napoleon  III  in  charge  of 
the  Louvre  he  displaced  Barye  from  his  position  and  gave  his  modest 
salary  to  M.  Fremiet,  the  sculptor  of  that  charming  little  Joan  of  Arc 
who  sits  so  innocent  and  resolute,  high  on  her  saddle  on  the  Place  des 
Pyramides.  Fremiet  is  still  alive  and  Falguiere,  Chapu,  Dubois,  Saint 
Marceaux  and  Rodin,  to  speak  of  no  others,  maintain  France  at  the 
head  of  all  nations  in  sculpture.  But  among  them  there  is  no  Barye 
and  his  statuettes  have  luckily  the  very  qualities  which  fit  them  for 
colossal  enlargement  or  to  the  size  of  life. 

It  is  true  that  the  Centaur  group  does  not  possess  that  repose  which 
we  generally  demand  of  public  monuments.  But  it  may  be  observed 
that  the  rule  of  repose  is  not  a rigid  one  and  may  in  some  cases  be 
departed  from  with  advantage.  There  is  a field  in  sculpture  for  the 
most  violent  action,  provided  the  moment  chosen  is  one  of  suspended 
movement  and  the  subject  demands  a lively  treatment.  Preault,  Rude, 
Rodin  and  other  masters  have  violated  a sound  general  rule  and  justified 
their  departure  by  success. 

It  is  however  certain  that  such  groups  are  proper  neither  for  a very 
high  pedestal,  nor  for  a lofty  perch  on  the  front  of  a building  such 
as  was  unluckily  accorded  to  some  of  Barye’s  groups  in  stone.  We 

78 


> 


No.  60.  Theseus  Slaying  the  Centaur  Bianor. 
Bronze.  Height,  so  inches. 


No.  63.  Hunt  of  the  Tiger  (from  right). 
Bronze.  Height,  27  inches. 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BAEYE’S  POVERTY 


must  be  on  a level  with  the  centaur  to  appreciate  the  muscular  effects 
in  the  monster  stumbling  to  his  death,  the  stern  impassive  face  of  his 
executioner  and  the  play  of  the  dying  centaur’s  hands,  which  are  per- 
haps the  most  expressive  points  in  the  work.  Barye’s  profound  knowl- 
edge of  the  human  figure,  denied  him  during  his  life,  but  visible  as  we 
have  seen  in  his  very  earliest  work,  is  nowhere  more  apparent  than  in 
Theseus  and  the  human  half  of  Biauor.  The  difficidt  feat  of  represent- 
ing, without  a shock  to  our  unaccustomed  eyes,  the  place  of  juncture 
between  the  man’s  torso  and  that  of  the  horse  is  accomplished  with 
apparent  ease.  The  lower  part  of  the  hero’s  figure  fills  up  and  conceals 
the  broad  planes  of  the  human  and  equine  backs,  and  prevents  the 
uncomfortable  effect  which  may  be  felt  when  we  regard  a centaur  with- 
out a rider  in  Greek  sculpture.  The  curved  left  fore  leg  and  tail  bring 
the  composition  more  together  than  appears  to  be  the  case  with  the  orig- 
inal form,  while  the  drapery  falling  from  the  back  on  the  cactus  and 
flowing  on  the  ground  between  the  hind  hoofs  gives  a sinuous  line  that 
keeps  the  whole  from  too  much  angularity,  in  view  of  the  centaur’s 
sharply  bent  knee  and  pointed  right  elbow  together  with  the  right 
elbow  of  Theseus  himself.  The  popularity  of  this  group  since  Barye’s 
death  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  M.  Barbedienne  offers  it  in 
four  different  sizes  and  a first  sketch,  one  of  them  costing  6000  francs. 

It  has  the  honor  of  creating  one  of  the  most  pertinacious  and  pictur- 
esque legends  that  wove  themselves  round  Barye  as  the  victim  of  pov- 
erty. According  to  this  tale  the  sculptor  was  so  poor  that  he  was  forced 
to  retail  his  statuettes  from  house  to  house  like  the  Italians  who  from 
rude  molds  fashion  little  images  of  the  most  execrable  modeling, 
and  placing  a dozen  on  a board  parade  the  streets  with  their  fragile 
wares.  Barye  going  the  rounds  of  the  jewelers  and  vendors  of  knick- 
knacks  for  the  parlor  with  a Theseus  Slaying  Bianor  balanced  on  his 
head  is  one  of  those  dramatic  points  which  van  Mander,  Vasari  and 
Lanzi  would  have  loved.  There  is  however  nothing  to  sustain  it. 

In  attempting  this  subject  Barye  had  the  ancient  centaurs  to  compete 
with  and  to  avoid,  though  to  do  so  was  to  imply  that  he  could  improve 


79 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


on  the  Elgin  marbles  in  the  British  Museum.  He  had  also  the  Theseus 
Slaying  a Centaur  at  Vienna  by  Canova  as  a rival,  but  that  gave  him 
little  trouble.  Canova  modeled  a very  ogre  of  a Theseus  who  towers 
above  a poor  little  centaur  and  by  merely  touching  him  makes  the  man- 
horse  fall  on  his  knees.  As  no  physical  power  could  have  produced  this 
result,  Theseus  standing  where  he  does,  we  must  infer  that  Theseus 
‘eyed  him  over’  first  and  then  dispatched  him  at  his  leisure.  Needless 
to  say  that  our  sympathies  are  with  the  little  centaur  and  that  we  regard 
the  big  human  bully  with  contempt.  Canova  may  have  precedents  in 
this  treatment  of  the  combat,  but  there  are  many  statues,  reliefs  and 
paintings  from  antiquity  which  cannot  be  followed  with  success. 

In  the  artistic  realm  Barye’s  Centaur  is  an  advance  on  that  of  Greece. 
In  the  scientific  realm  the  group  shows  the  conquest  of  simpler,  more 
specialized  forms  over  the  complex  monsters  of  the  past  in  the  struggle 
for  existence. 


80 


No.  G4.  Theseus  Slating  Minotaur, 
Bronze.  Heiglit,  18  inches. 


Chapter  Four 
I 

1 the  year  1850  onward  Barye  began  to  have  some  reward 
years  of  laborious  silence.  He  had  early  known  the  bitter- 
s of  seeing  men  like  Fratin  and  Fauginet  preferred,  though 
of  course  he  estimated  rightly  his  own  superiority.  We  are  sure  that 
he  regarded  as  less  unjust  the  partiality  of  the  public  for  the  highly 
finished  bronzes  of  Mene,  for  these  are  real  works  of  art  only  second  to 
Barye’s.  Besides,  there  is  a lithograph  of  a lioness  and  cubs  made  by 
Barye,  a proof  of  which  bears  a dedication  to  Mene.  If  we  call  the 
latter’s  the  product  of  genius,  the  bronzes  by  Mene  may  be  consid- 
ered the  work  of  a highly  talented  sculptor.  Barye  could  not  have  ig- 
nored the  distinguished  merits  of  Cain  and  of  Fremiet,  his  successor  at 
the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  M.  Cain,  whose  large  bronzes  stand  in  the 
Tuileries  gardens,  owns  many  Barye  water-colors  and  lithographs. 

Barye  was  Professor  at  the  Jardin,  but  seems  to  have  been  ill-adapted 
for  the  position.  He  lectured  at  times,  but  had  little  power  of  interesting 
his  pupils  and  for  the  most  part  contented  himself  with  looking  over 
the  work  of  those  who  frecpient-ed  the  establishment  and  occasionally 
vouchsafing  a remark.  The  habit  of  silence,  for  which  he  had  been 


ii 


81 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


rallied  at  the  dinners  of  a circle  of  clever  fellows  or  at  the  cafes,  grew 
on  him  as  he  became  more  and  more  involved  in  disastrous  affairs  and 
experienced  the  neglect  or  the  attacks  of  the  indifferent  or  the  envious. 
He  seemed  to  wear  a padlock  on  his  lips,  was  the  remark  of  an  acquaint- 
ance. The  justice  of  the  sally  is  perceived  in  all  his  portraits,  which 
show  lips  pushed  together  resolutely. 

This  look  is  probably  the  main  basis  for  a number  of  anecdotes, 
which  if  true  would  argue  Barye  a bear  indeed,  nay,  a man  whose 
temper  was  so  ungoverned  that  he  was  ready  to  assail  a patron  on  the 
slightest  grounds  of  offense,  at  the  mere  suspicion  of  a criticism  upon  a 
design  or  model.  That  he  was  impatient  of  babblers  and  those  who 
spend  the  time  of  busy  men  without  having  a purpose  is  more  than 
likely.  But  good  judges  who  saw  much  of  Barye  during  the  last  twenty 
years  of  his  life  give  emphatic  denial  to  this  view  of  his  character  or 
manners.  They  represent  him  as  reserved  to  a degree  unusual  among 
Frenchmen,  but  courteous,  and  before  everything  dignified;  talkative 
enough  when  under  four  eyes,  but  not  a person  to  contribute  to  the 
general  pleasure  of  a dinner-table.  It  is  probable  that  while  Barye  was 
naturally  taciturn  his  reserve  was  increased  by  a consciousness  of  de- 
fective’education  in  early  life.  To  the  same  cause  we  may  attribute 
his  dislike  of  writing  letters,  in  consequence  of  which  most  of  his 
correspondence  was  conducted  by  his  wife  or  one  of  his  daughters. 

Almost  the  only  instance  on  recoi’d  to  which  credence  may  be  given, 
when  Barye  uttered  a complaint  or  said  a harsh  thing  of  those  who 
misunderstood  his  work  or  understood  its  greatness  too  well  for  their 
own  peace  of  mind,  is  preserved  by  Theoplxile  Silvestre.  Perhaps  pro- 
voked to  it  by  the  warmth  of  his  friend’s  indignation,  and  turning  over 
in  his  mind  all  the  miserable  tricks  of  which  he  had  been  a victim,  but 
especially  that  which  consisted  in  keeping  him  down  with  a nickname, 
Barye  said : ‘ In  fobbing  me  off  among  the  animals  to  get  rid  of  me, 

my  contemporaries  have  ranged  themselves  below  the  beasts.’ 

The  Salon  of  1851  accepted  another  group  which  approaches  nearer 
the  ordinary  ideals  of  a grand  statue  for  public  places.  It  was  conceived 


82 


No.  65.  Bronze  Bust  of  Barye  by  Moulin. 
Height,  23  inches. 


THE  MEANING  OF  MINOTAUR 


as  far  back  as  1841.  Again  it  is  Thesens  whom  he  chooses  and  again  he 
depicts  the  godlike  hero  destroying  a monster.  But  the  latter  has  in 
Greek  mythology  no  good  side  like  that  shown  by  at  least  one  of  the 
centaurs,  Chiron,  who  was  the  instructor  of  the  demi-gods  while  young. 
The  Minotaur  is  a representative  of  the  evil  spirits  of  the  grave  who 
rise  to  prey  on  the  living,  of  the  terror  that  lurks  in  the  night  when  the 
sun  is  absent,  and  seems,  to  the  childlike  imagination  of  primitive  men, 
to  have  gone  perhaps  forever.  In  closer  connection  with  the  history  of 
religions,  he  represents  early  Semitic  faiths  based  upon  such  panic  fears 
as  existed  along  with  gorgeous  rituals  and  ceremonies  ruthless  in  their 
cruelty  among  the  Phoenicians  and  Jews,  when  the  latter  passed  their 
first-born  through  the  fire  or  into  the  red-hot  arms  and  flaming  belly  of 
Moloch. 

‘ Instead  of  considering  Minotaur  the  product  of  licentious  imagina- 
tions run  wild,’  to  quote  again  from  the  article  in  The  Century  Maga- 
zine, ‘ or  the  caricature  of  an  early  tyrant  who  exacted  slaves  as  tribute 
from  Attica,  or  the  symbol  of  the  junction  in  Crete  of  two  warring  relig- 
ious, or  a special  emblem  of  the  god  of  the  sun,  we  can  now  ally  him  with 
such  genii  ( jinn ),  as  the  wardens  of  the  portals  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria 
and  like  them  consider  him  the  idol  of  a subjugated  people,  the  sign  of 
a religion  relegated  to  the  second  place.  We  can  be  as  confident  as 
possible  that  Theseus  himself  was  a pure  sun-god  humanized,  like  Her- 
cules, Bellerophon  and  Perseus.  He  makes  war  on  and  subdues  a 
monster  who  bears  the  root  of  the  word  “ moon  ” in  his  name.  As  it 
was  suggested  long  ago,  Minotaur  means  the  moon  and  the  beast  sacred 
to  the  moon.  Theseus  overwhelms  him  just  as  the  rising  sun  causes 
the  moon  to  fade.  The  labyrinth  in  which  he  wanders  is  the  dark  world 
under  the  flat  earth  — Hades.  The  boys  and  maidens  dedicate  to  him 
are  the  human  sacrifices  his  rites  demanded  which  the  new  religion  puts 
an  end  to.  In  many  other  places  besides  Crete  sun-worship  drove 
out  moon-worship  with  its  horrid  rites  of  Moloch.  Thus  Minotaur 
belongs  with  Gorgon,  Typhon,  the  Titans,  Giants,  Cyclopes,  among  the 
gods  of  a dark  past  and  lower  civilization.  By  a further  move  back  into 


83 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


tlie  past  these  composites  of  animals  and  men  connect  themselves  with 
totems  or  the  animal  badges  assumed  as  crests  or  emblems  by  families, 
tribes  and  nations/ 

The  Minotaur  infested  the  labyrinth,  that  singular  fancy  which  appears 
on  coins  of  Crete  five  hundred  years  before  Christ  and  is  still  to  be 
found  as  a sort  of  practical  joke  in  gardens  of  France  and  England 
wrought  out  in  high  hedges  of  evergreen.  The  labyrinth  of  the  under 
world  in  which  the  sun  wanders  at  night  had  a parallel  above  men’s 
heads  in  the  stars  which  suggest  a labyrinth  in  which  a spirit  might 
well  be  puzzled  to  find  its  way.  When  we  were  considering  the  north- 
ern worship  of  the  bear,  we  found  that  there  was  just  such  alternate 
glancing  of  thought  from  the  animal  famous  for  its  courage  and 
magical  properties  on  earth  to  the  Great  Bear,  the  wonder-working 
constellation  that  swings  in  the  sky. 

So  the  Minotaur  myth  is  a resultant  of  various  ideas  that  embraced 
heaven  and  earth  alternately  until  they  issued  in  a strange,  and  to  our 
thought  repulsive,  myth.  It  has  puzzled  archaeologists  to  assign  to 
Minos  and  Pasiphae,  the  father  and  mother  of  Minotaur,  their  proper 
place  as  symbols  of  heavenly  bodies,  because  their  respective  sexes  do 
not  agree  with  the  ordinary  view  of  sun  and  moon.  But  if  we  remem- 
ber that  the  Germans  retain  the  ancient  idea  of  the  sun  as  a woman 
which  we  find  among  the  Lapps  and  Japanese  we  have  the  clew.  Minos 
is  the  moon  in  its  male  form.  Pasiphae  (all-shiner)  is  the  sun  in  its 
female  form.  Minotaur  is  their  offspring  and  has  like  its  father  the 
ideas  of  night,  demoniac  powers  and  the  labyrinths  of  the  under 
world  and  the  starry  sky  connected  with  it.  Phoenician  in  origin,  the 
sacrifices  of  children  to  the  horned  moon-god  come  to  an  end  when 
Theseus,  the  male  sun-god  of  a higher  race  represented  by  the  Greeks 
proper,  makes  his  way  through  the  labyrinth  of  night  and  destroys  the 
demon  of  darkness.  As  the  Greek  influence  predominated  the  gods 
which  could  be  identified  with  another  race  were  forced  into  repulsive 
and  degraded  forms. 

The  Minotaur  occurs  on  coins  of  Cnossus,  once  a flourishing  com- 


84 


PANTHER  SEIZING  STAG 


THESEUS  AND  MINOTAUR  ON  COINS 


mercial  city  on  the  northern  coast  of  Crete.  He  has  a human  form,  hut  a 
bulks  head,  the  horns  recalling  the  moon  when  at  the  crescent,  exactly 
as  in  the  case  of  Diana,  the  female  moon,  according  to  ideas  more  purely 
Greek.  He  is  shown  running  or  kneeling  and  holds  in  each  hand  a 
large  globe,  for  which  reason  Minotaur  has  been  mistaken  hitherto  for 
a sun-god,  together  with  the  fact  that  on  the  same  coin  but  on  the  oppo- 
site face  the  picture  of  the  labyrinth  is  completed  by  a swastika  or  four- 
leg,  which  is  generally  a sign  of  the  sun.  The  globes  in  the  hands  of  the 
running  Minotaur  however  may  be  considered  to  mean  the  stealing  of 
the  world  of  light  by  the  demon  of  the  dark ; the  sun-emblem  on  the 
labyrinth  merely  represents  Theseus.  On  later  coins  we  have  a naked 
youth  seated  on  a labyrinth  and  carrying  in  one  hand  a Victory,  who 
must  be  Theseus.  Thus  we  get  the  chain  of  evidence  complete  that 
Theseus  is  a variant  on  the  sun-god,  male  as  to  sex,  while  Minotaur  is  a 
variant  on  the  moon-god,  and  also  male  like  his  father  Minos. 

Such  confusion  resulting  from  the  habit  of  antique  nations  of  imagin- 
ing their  gods  in  married  pairs  and  then  exalting  one  of  the  couple  so 
high  that  the  other  is  forgot  belongs  to  nearly  every  religion  on  earth. 
We  are  also  constantly  meeting  with  the  degradation  of  gods  belong- 
ing to  a conquered  race  into  positions  of  subserviency.  It  often  seems 
as  if  the  conquerors  wished  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  such  great 
changes  in  the  political  world  among  peoples  ignorant  of  writing  save 
in  the  rudest  ways,  using  monuments  exactly  as  the  Egyptians  used 
their  hieroglyphs,  namely  as  a means  of  preventing  entire  forgetful- 
ness of  past  events.  Thus  the  Minotaur-Theseus  combat,  when  ex- 
plained by  the  teachers  of  the  inner  meaning  of  monuments,  would 
embody  the  fusion  of  a Phoenician  and  an  Aryan-Greek  religion.  The 
combat  of  centaurs  and  Lapiths  however  might  have  been  meant  to 
recall  the  enfranchisement  of  the  Greeks  proper  from  dominion  exer- 
cised by  the  horse-tribes  of  Thessaly  or  of  the  Asian  steppes  before 
they  had  completely  occupied  the  laud  which  we  call  Greece. 

There  is,  indeed,  a strong  parallel  between  the  Centaur  group  and 
that  of  the  Minotaur  as  composed  by  Barye.  One  is  the  concentrated 


85 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


epic  of  the  warfare  between  two  races  or  civilizations,  the  other  be- 
tween two  religions.  The  Minotaur  group  is  the  simpler,  and  yet  its 
myth  is  more  profound.  That  group  also,  although  given  to  the  world 
after  the  Centaur,  was  really  conceived  and  substantially  finished  before 
the  other.  In  some  respects  it  is  also  the  finer  of  the  two  statuettes. 

It  seems  natural  now  to  us  that  Barye  should  have  advanced  from 
his  combats  of  animals  to  combats  of  heroes  against  monsters.  But  if 
natural  and  easy,  why  did  not  others  do  it  before  him?  In  other  words, 
now  that  Barye  has  been  accepted,  we  are  in  danger  of  forgetting  how 
courageous  he  was  to  step  out  of  the  common  line  of  classical  subjects 
and  treat  those  which  were  practically  unstamped  by  the  approval  of 
the  scholars  and  connoisseurs  of  the  past.  Only  by  keeping  this  before 
our  minds  can  we  estimate  properly  the  genius  of  Barye.  He  first 
created  a new  department  for  the  exercise  of  artistic  talents,  and  then, 
not  content  with  a glory  such  as  only  the  rarest  artists  attain,  pushed  for- 
ward into  a field  hitherto  held  by  the  greatest  of  Greek  sculptors.  Had 
Theseus  and  the  Centaur,  or  Theseus  and  Minotaur,  been  dug  up  at 
Pompeii  or  Olympia,  every  archaeological  and  art  magazine  in  the  world 
would  have  had  its  portrait  and  expatiated  on  its  magnificent  Greekness. 
Every  museum  would  have  sent  for  casts  and  lecturers  would  have 
pointed  out  wherein  the  moderns  lagged  far  behind  the  ancients, 
namely  in  the  wonderfully  fresh  way  the  real  was  blent  with  the  ideal. 
It  only  falls  short  of  the  very  greatest  sculpture  known  by  having  in  a 
less  degree  than  a certain  few  statues  that  bright  and  godlike  serenity 
we  find  in  the  Venus  of  Melos. 

Theseus  and  Minotaur  has  the  highest  qualities  for  monumental 
effect.  It  is  calm  and  noble  without  pushing  nobility  to  the  point  of 
superhuman  power.  Thus  the  hero  is  not  a magician  or  a god  from  the 
point  of  whose  sword  issues  a force  that  slays  the  demon,  neither  is  he  a 
man  doing  easily  what  no  man  could.  He  is  a powerful  hero  by  reason 
of  his  mind,  which  has  trained  his  body  so  that  it  can  defeat  untrained 
brawn  and  muscle,  mind  which  has  dug  the  copper  and  tin  and  cast  the 
bronze  sword  to  aid  him  in  the  struggle  against  the  brute  forces  of 


8(5 


/ 


No.  61.  Head  op  Seated  Lion  (front). 


N 


\ 


J 


No.  62.  Head  op  Seated  Lion  (profile). 


WHERE  DID  HE  SEE  SUCH  COMBATS? 


nature.  His  stride  keeps  him  erect  against  the  heavy  onslaught  of  the 
bull-man  and  he  prevents  the  latter  from  throwing  him  by  seizing  one 
great  bovine  ear  and  forcing  the  monster  back  of  the  perpendicular. 
In  vain  does  the  latter  strike  with  his  left  leg  behind  the  hero’s  right 
knee  at  the  spot  the  wrestler  tries  to  hit  in  order  to  bring  his  opponent 
down ; in  vain  he  clutches  the  latter’s  body  with  both  hands  in  the  effort 
to  get  a lock  round  the  torso.  Theseus  holds  him  off  just  where  he 
wants  him  and  pauses  coolly  to  select  the  exact  spot  where  he  will  bury 
his  blade  half-way  to  the  hilt.  So  the  matador  pauses  coolly  before  he 
thrusts  his  sword  into  the  neck  of  the  bull  — then  to  wipe  the  blade  care- 
fully  on  his  brilliant  kerchief  and  turning,  salute  the  spectators  with  an 
air  of  dignity  from  which  he  strives  to  eliminate  every  trace  of  pride. 

As  in  the  Centaur  group  so  here,  the  hero  wins  with  his  brains,  not  his 
brawn,  having  mastered  his  foe  before  administering  the  fatal  stroke. 
Once  more  we  see  in  perfect  fusion  the  two  dominant  elements  in 
Barye,  so  marvelous  in  the  most  educated  and  deeply  read  man,  but  far 
more  wonderful  in  one  who  was  sent  almost  without  schooling  into  the 
workshop  while  a little  boy.  These  elements  we  have  ti’aced  before : 
they  are  the  artistic  that  makes  a thing  of  beauty  out  of  a tragic  and 
even  ghastly  subject,  and  the  scientific  that  digests  and  turns  into 
symbols  the  greatest  of  questions,  the  past  on  earth  of  animals  and  man. 
The  way  in  which  he  has  carried  the  human  back  upward  into  the  tre- 
mendous neck  of  the  bull  and  downward  into  the  coarse  bovine  tail,  the 
latter  seeming  to  spring  naturally  by  powerful  roots  from  the  flanks, 
so  that  it  is  not  a mere  appendage  like  the  horse-tails  of  satyrs,  but  a 
part  of  the  monster  that  might  be  switched  in  all  directions,  is  certainly 
a marvelous  feat  of  imagination  in  sculpture. 

But  such  are  all  the  combats  of  animals  that  went  before.  Where 
and  when  could  Barye  have  seen  animals  in  conflict"?  In  some  cases  he 
fell  into  geographical  mistakes  or  deliberately  made  anatopisms,  if  the 
coinage  of  a word  be  forgiven.  A tiger  may  be  seen  devouring  an  ani- 
mal that  does  not  exist  in  that  part  of  the  world  where  tigers  are  found. 
The  bear  of  one  continent  is  put  in  conflict  with  that  of  another.  The 

87 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


Jaguar  Devouring  an  Alligator  was  entered  on  Barye’s  own  catalogue 
Jaguar  Devouring  a Crocodile.  Yet  jaguars  are  only  found  in  America 
while  crocodiles  are  not.  We  have  only  the  alligator  in  a few  varieties. 
Here  Barye  yielded  to  the  necessities  of  the  case.  He  modeled  a true 
alligator  with  its  short  snout  and  half- webbed  hind  feet,  but  instead  of 
caiman  the  ordinary  term  in  French,  he  used  the  word  everybody  un- 
derstood, crocodile,  though  strictly  speaking  it  was  a misnomer. 

Hardly  ever  could  he  have  seen  captive  wild  beasts  fighting  with  each 
other.  Barye  did  not  live  in  Roman  times  when  the  wild  beasts  of  three 
continents  were  brought  to  the  Eternal  City  and  pitted  against  each 
other  in  the  arena.  Nor  did  he  travel.  It  is  not  known  that  he  ever 
left  France ; probably  he  never  saw  much  of  his  own  country.  He 
was  a Parisian  though  so  un-Parisian.  It  was  sheer  imagination  there- 
fore that  enabled  him  to  construct  in  his  own  mind  a picture  of  what 
a vast  number  of  animals  must  have  looked  like,  had  a chance  encounter 
or  the  ever-present  law  of  hunger  brought  them  together  in  a struggle 
where  the  weaker  must  succumb.  It  looks  so  easy — but  how  could  he 
have  done  it  unless  he  saw  them  in  the  act  with  his  own  eyes  ? To  ask 
the  question  is  to  assert  that  their  maker  is  a genius. 


II 

Theophile  Silvestre  published  a very  appreciative  essay  on  Barye 
in  his  Histoire  des  Artistes  Yivantes  which  appeared  in  1856  with  a 
portrait  by  Flameng  on  steel  which  has  been  retouched  by  that  etcher 
for  our  frontispiece.  The  year  before  an  English  observer,  Bayle  St. 
John,  called  attention  to  his  merits  in  The  Louvre,  a tvork  published 
at  London  by  Chapman  and  Hall.  1 M.  Barye  is  assuredly  one  of  the 
greatest  artists  that  France  possesses  ’ he  wrote ; ‘ one  of  those  also  who 
have  been  most  roughly  tried  in  the  course  of  a life  fertile  in  master- 
pieces of  a deep  and  enduring  character.’  The  death  in  1855  of  the 
sculptor  Rude  who  composed  the  only  brilliant  reliefs  for  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe  and  also  contributed  groups  full  of  audacity  and  fire  to  the 


88 


NO.  68. 

MOT'NT'KD  ARABS  KILLING  LTO 
H eight  ] 4 n ch  ea 


THE  JAGUAR  DEVOURING  A HARE 


decorations  of  the  Lonvre  must  have  made  people  think  that  Barye 
too  was  growing  old.  But  the  article  by  Gustave  Planche  in  the  July 
issue  of  the  Revue  des  deux  Mondes  of  1851  brought  him  first  before 
the  scholars  and  connoisseurs  of  France.  These  owe  that  acute  and 
valiant  critic  much  for  constituting  himself  the  life-long  champion 
of  an  artist  who  could  not  or  would  not  advance  his  own  interests 
by  intrigues  and  prayers. 

The  following  year  the  Salon  accepted  a Jaguar  Devouring  a Hare 
which  contains  that  ferocity  and  that  gluttonous  enjoyment  of  its 
prey  we  find  in  all  the  cat  tribe.  The  modeling  of  the  jaguar’s 
shoulders  and  head  was  of  the  broadest,  so  that  it  bespoke  a great 
change  in  the  standards  the  jury  kept  before  them  that  the  group  was 
entered  at  all.  But  it  was  not  only  a public  success  ; the  government 
bought  it  for  the  Luxenbourg  collection,  whence  it  has  been  removed  to 
the  Louvre.  1 How  many  times  ’ wrote  M.  Bonnat  the  painter  recently 
‘ have  I gone  to  the  Luxembourg  merely  to  see  his  Jaguar  Devouring  a 
Hare  ! How  often  I have  crossed  the  Tuileries  in  order  to  look  at  the 
talons  of  his  Lion  and  Serpent — those  tragic  talons  so  marvelously 
analyzed  and  modeled ! ’ 

Owing  to  the  absence  of  color  and  the  similarity  in  shape  of  the 
big  cats  this  jaguar  is  sometimes  called  a tiger,  though  anybody  well 
acquainted  with  wild  beasts  would  not  fail  to  note  the  difference  in 
the  growth  of  fur  about  their  respective  heads.  The  last  biographer 
of  Barye  has  made  a worse  mistake  in  calling  a magnificent  Walking 
Tiger  a lioness,  although  the  sculptor  marked  very  plainly  in  the  bronze 
the  vertical  or  sloping  stripes  which  identify  the  living  animal  at  once. 
Barye  has  resorted  to  this  method  in  other  cases,  most  notably  how- 
ever with  leopards  and  ocelots  whose  ‘ eyes  ’ in  the  fur  are,  sometimes 
recorded  by  two  shallow  circles,  one  within  the  other. 

The  Jaguar  and  Hare  represents  the  whole  family  of  the  felines  at 
their  repasts  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  lion,  especially  their 
constant  watchfulness  both  for  the  inroads  of  other  animals  and  their 
own  species  and  for  another  chance  to  seize  a prey.  There  is  an 


12 


89 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


insatiable  lust  for  blood  among  these  creatures  which  is  found  iu  the 
domestic  cat  as  well  as  the  tiger.  The  good  mouser  is  not  content  with 
as  many  mice  as  will  make  a meal,  but  hastens  to  kill  one  and  catch 
another  as  loug  as  any  are  within  reach.  So  the  tiger,  unless  old,  will 
slaughter  a whole  flock  of  sheep  though  it  can  not  carry  away  or  eat 
more  than  two  at  the  most. 

The  jaguar  has  commenced,  as  all  the  carnivora  do,  at  the  entrails  of 
the  hare  and  eats  the  softer  parts  first.  But  meantime  it  watches 
keenly  for  interruptions  or  another  victim,  laying  its  ears  well  back 
in  sign  of  readiness  to  dispute  its  meal  with  anything  that  comes  near. 
In  many  parts  of  America  the  jaguar  at  its  meal  is  surrounded  by 
birds  that  feed  on  carrion  and  will  sometimes  venture  very  close  in 
hopes  to  steal  a bit.  In  this  jaguar  Barye  has  caught  exactly  that 
alert  look,  in  addition  to  the  expression  of  head  and  tail  which  be- 
tokens enjoyment  of  a prey  still  hot  with  its  life-blood. 

The  history  of  this  group  in  the  auction  room  shows  the  rapid 
advance  in  cost  of  prime  works  by  Barye.  At  the  sale  of  the  sculptor’s 
models  and  statuettes  after  his  death  M.  Sichel  bought  the  copy  now 
in  the  Walters  Gallery  for  $580.  Ten  years  later  at  the  Sichel  sale  Mr. 
Walters  paid  for  it  $1880.  Last  year  M.  Bonnat  the  painter  paid  for  a 
copy  no  better  than  this  the  round  sum  of  $5000. 

It  may  be  noted  that  Barye’s  case  was  externally  like  Millet’s. 
Neglected  while  alive  and  ready  to  sell  his  work  at  low  prices,  there 
needed  but  his  death  to  cause  people,  who  had  seen  him  extolled  un- 
moved, while  he  was  still  producing,  to  discover  that  he  was  a genius 
and  strive  for  his  works.  Copies  could  still  be  issued  but  no  more 
proofs  bearing  the  unmistakable  touch  of  the  master. 

I say  externally,  but  in  truth  there  was  a deep  radical  correspond- 
ence between  Millet  and  Barye  that  extended  beyond  their  origin  in 
the  same  lower  middle  class,  the  one  a superior  peasant,  the  other  a 
superior  burgher.  For  if  Millet  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  monot- 
onous gloomy  life  of  peasants  and  dared  to  paint  them,  Barye  was 
moved  by  the  dumb  creatures  of  the  world  and  lifted  them  into  good 


90 


Bronze  in  the  Louvre.  Height,  1 5l/2  inches. 


THE  STATUS  OF  THE  BRUTES  RAISED 


human  society.  Both  suffered  for  audacity  iu  proposing  a new  order 
of  things  which  they  knew  to  be  art,  but  which  arbiters  of  the  arts 
considered  poor  and  unfinished  work.  Millet’s  painting  was  and 
still  is  charged  with  being  muddy  and  1 cottony  ’ while  his  subjects 
were  called  vulgar.  Barye’s  modeling  was  thought  hurried  and  un- 
finished, while  his  subjects  were  chiefly  beasts  regarded  by  men  as 
peculiarly  his  foes,  or  at  the  least  animals  without  the  stamp  of  ap- 
proval from  the  ancients. 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  ordinary  Frenchman  appears  singularly 
obtuse  to  the  sufferings  of  domestic  animals,  often  treating  them  with 
a brutality  that  seems  to  spring  from  ignorance  as  much  as  anything. 
In  fact  until  recently  the  whole  world  failed  to  appreciate  that  beasts 
have  feelings  and  should  be  treated  with  kindness.  Fifty  years  ago 
there  was  far  more  indifference,  ignorance  and  cruelty  to  animals  than 
we  can  well  imagine  at  the  present  day.  By  familiarizing  people 
with  the  beauty  of  wild  beasts  and  even  of  strange,  uncanny  creatures, 
the  way  opened  for  improvement  in  this  regard.  Barye  has  helped 
by  indirect  but  efficient  means  to  raise  the  status  of  the  brutes,  just  as 
Millet  has  raised  the  status  of  the  peasant  who  toils  for  his  daily  bread. 
His  bronzes  might  well  decorate  the  offices  of  the  various  societies  for 
the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals. 

Who  indeed  has  approached  him  in  the  grandeur  that  he  gave  to 
the  larger,  and  as  we  express  it,  nobler  of  the  wild  beasts  ? He  made 
rabbits  in  bronze  that  raise  one’s  respect  for  bunny.  The  tortoise,  the 
civet  cat,  even  such  an  odd  figure  as  the  honey-eating  badger  of  Africa 
assume  a certain  dignity  under  his  magic  touch.  But  what  shall  any 
one  say  to  describe  the  disdainful  majesty  of  the  Walking  Tiger,  one  of 
the  first  illustrations  of  this  book?  We  must  go  to  William  Blake  to 
find  a seer  like  Barye. 

Tiger,  tiger,  burning  bright 
In  the  forest  of  the  night, 

What  immortal  hand  or  eye 
Framed  thy  fearful  symmetry  ? 


01 


LIFE  OF  BAKYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


In  what  distant  deeps  or  skies 
Burned  that  fire  within  thine  eyes? 

On  what  wings  dared  he  aspire  ? 

What  the  hand  dared  seize  the  fire  ? 

And  what  shoulder  and  what  art 
Could  twist  the  sinews  of  thy  heart  ? 
When  thy  heart  began  to  beat 
What  dread  hand  formed  thy  dread  feet? 

What  the  hammer,  what  the  chain, 

Knit  thy  strength  and  forged  thy  brain  ? 
What  the  anvil  ? what  dread  grasp 
Dared  thy  deadly  terrors  clasp  ? 

When  the  stars  threw  down  their  spears 
And  watered  heaven  with  their  tears 
Did  He  smile  His  work  to  see  ? 

Did  He  who  made  the  lamb  make  thee  ? 


Ill 

The  Empire  was  declared  in  1852  and  the  new  potentate,  dreaming 
of  Charlemagne  and  Napoleon  the  Great,  married  the  beautiful  and 
charming  young  Spaniard  who  did  so  much  to  render  his  reign  one  of 
magnificence  and  taste.  Among  the  artists  who  were  more  or  less 
patronized  under  Napoleon  III  was  Barye,  his  genius  being  enough 
understood  to  bring  him  orders,  though  usually  the  latter  were  not  such 
as  to  evoke  his  finest  powers. 

In  1853  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  her  husband  killed  by  an  accident, 
her  father-in-law  the  king  in  exile,  sold  the  famous  table  ornaments 
and  dispersed  its  several  members  to  the  four  winds,  not,  let  us  hope, 
to  remain  forever  apart.  Strange  to  say  the  Bear  Hunt  was  the  piece 
for  which  bidders  ventured  highest.  It  fell  at  $2420.  The  Elk  Hunt 
came  next  for  $980 ; then  the  Wild  Bull  Hunt  to  Lutteroth  for  $900, 
and  Prince  Demidoff  was  able  to  secure  the  magnificent  Tiger  Hunt 
with  Elephant  for  $820.  The  Lion  Hunt  brought  only  $600.  It  would 
not  be  safe  to  conjecture  what  pieces  without  duplicates  such  as  these 


92 


No.  70.  A.  L.  Barye  with  Centaur  Group.  (From  a Photograph.) 


A PEN-PORTRAIT  OF  THE  MASTER 


would  bring  if  they  were  now  offered  for  sale.  But  it  is  not  likely 
that  at  the  present  time  the  Tiger  Hunt  would  stand  in  point  of  price 
fourth.  Notable  is  the  fact  that  the  hunts  of  European  animals  brought 
the  best  prices  in  1853.  The  same  peculiarity  is  seen  in  the  four 
smaller  beast  combats  in  the  set.  The  Eagle  and  Bouquetin  fetched 
a much  higher  price  than  the  groups  in  which  the  leopard,  bison  or 
gnu,  and  lion  figure. 

Pei'haps  the  sale  recalled  Barye  to  the  authorities  and  enabled  some  of 
his  friends  among  the  artists  to  secure  for  him  in  1854  a professorship 
at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  Barye  was  a great  favorite  in  spite  of  his 
reserved  manners  and  chariness  of  speech.  Those  who  knew  him, 
those  who  listened  to  his  lectures  at  the  Jardin,  found  him  the  pleasant- 
est, most  kindly,  most  courteous  of  men.  The  tales  to  the  contrary  are 
pure  concoctions  due  to  the  necessity  many  people  are  under  to  tell  a 
good  story  and  make  it  picturesque,  whatever  betide.  Harsh,  mourn- 
ful, sharp-spoken  men  do  not  receive  the  praise  Barye  got,  nor  do  their 
friends  bestir  themselves  to  lobby  in  their  interests  for  a place  to  keep 
them  out  of  want.  To  match  our  frontispiece,  here  is  a written  sketch 
by  Silvestre  which  describes  Barye  at  this  point  in  his  life,  namely  the 
year  1855. 

‘ He  is  fifty -nine  years  old,  and  of  a size  above  the  middle  height. 
His  dress  is  careful,  without  extravagance  or  foppery.  His  manner  and 
gestures  are  precise,  correct,  quiet  and  dignified ; and  he  brings  into 
conversation  nothing  that  is  dry,  or  flabby,  or  pedantic.  His  watchful 
straightforward  eyes  look  you  always  in  the  face  frankly  and  pro- 
foundly, neither  with  a provoking  stare  nor  with  impertinence.  His 
brow  is  losing  its  short  and  whitening  hair  ; his  nose  is  slightly  turned 
up ; the  planes  of  the  face  are  strongly  carved  and  united  by  delicate 
modeling.  Barye  observes  you  and  waits,  listens  to  you  with  singular 
patience  and  penetrates  your  character  without  fail.  The  most  stub- 
born melancholy  and  the  most  concentrated  self-respect  escape  as  if 
without  his  knowledge  from  the  depths  of  his  thought  and  show  them- 
selves on  a face  which  is  of  a clear,  transparent  tone.’ 


93 


LIFE  OF  BAKYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


In  1855  occurred  the  Universal  Exposition,  a pale  thing  compared 
with  that  of  the  present  year,  but  fraught  with  benefit  to  many  men. 
Barye  received  the  Grand  Medal  of  Honor  in  the  section  of  artistic 
bronzes.  Then  too  he  obtained  the  officer’s  cross  in  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  A little  ease  began  to  show  itself  in  the  pinched  circumstances 
of  a man  with  many  children  and  a proved  inability  to  sell  his  wares. 
But  what  was  more  to  his  taste,  honors  began  to  fall  to  him  in  recom- 
pense for  all  his  troubles.  We  may  hope  that  these  did  something  to 
remove  that  melancholy  which  seemed  to  Silvestre  so  stubborn. 

At  this  time  he  lived  in  the  Rue  Montague  Sainte  Genevieve,  but  kept 
his  old  residence  in  the  Marais  quarter,  Rue  Saint  Anastase,  for  his  work- 
shop and  store.  There  in  1855  he  had  for  sale  more  than  a hundred 
different  bronzes  ranging  in  size  from  a turtle  only  two  centimeters 
high  and  six  long,  fit  to  be  worn  as  a locket,  up  to  the  big  bronze 
of  Roger  and  Angelica  on  the  Hippogriff,  fifty-three  centimeters  by 
sixty-seven,  which  is  a good  lift  for  a man.  The  prices  at  which 
he  sold  these  things  appear  comic  at  the  present  day  when  Europe  and 
America  are  scoured  for  pieces  on  which  he  lavished  care — and  also 
unfortunately  infected  with  reproductions,  some  of  them  secret  and 
fraudulent,  others  openly  manufactured  and  sold  under  the  protection 
of  the  law.  It  should  be  remembered  to  the  credit  of  M.  Barbedienne 
of  Paris  that,  while  he  makes  the  best  of  all  reproductions  of  Barye’s 
bronzes,  having  bought  at  the  sale  after  the  sculptor’s  death  a great 
many  models  and  originals,  yet  he  also  takes  pains  to  show  on  each 
bronze  in  the  plainest  possible  fashion  that  his  are  not  originals  but 
copies.  A round  brass  stamp  will  be  found  inserted  in  all  such  bronzes, 
making  it  impossible  for  the  ignorant  or  the  dishonest  to  sell  one  for 
Barye’s  handiwork. 

Barye  did  not  meet  with  such  scrupulousness  often,  for  it  is  said  that 
one  member  of  his  own  household  was  base  enough  to  palm  off  wretched 
pieces  on  the  world,  thus  stabbing  the  father  in  his  most  sensitive  place. 
A founder  who  obtained  possession  of  models  by  Barye  issued  a great 
quantity  of  poor  things  and  the  sculptor  was  not  able  legally  to  stop 


94 


NO.  71. 

TARTAR  WARRIOR  CHECK ' NO  Hi/RBE 
Heighf  1 3 1,;  n >ief 


AMERICANS  DISCOVER  BARYE 


it.  Another  fabricator  however,  not  protected  by  law,  was  caught  at 
his  tricks  and  his  shop  seized  by  the  police.  In  foreign  countries  Barye’s 
animals  have  been  copied  right  and  left  for  such  iron  lions  and  dogs 
as  some  people  buy  at  the  weight  in  metal  for  the  decoration  of  their 
gardens.  It  may  be  said,  however,  that  in  these  extreme  cases  the  work- 
manship was  bad  that  no  reflection  was  cast  on  the  originator. 

Not  so  with  the  Parisian  copies,  legal  and  illegal.  They  are  still  a 
trouble,  because  they  give  themselves  out  for  Barye  bronzes  and  are 
readily  mistaken  for  the  best  by  persons  who  have  no  little  artistic  taste 
but  happen  never  to  have  studied  bronzes  enough  to  guard  them  from 
mistakes.  In  such  matters  people  are  no  more  to  be  blamed  than  they 
are  for  mistaking  poor  copies  of  paintings  for  old  masters.  No  one 
can  be  a judge  by  natural  superiority  alone.  Those  who  know  most 
of  old  paintings  and  bronzes  are  the  least  ready  to  decide  off-hand  the 
genuineness  of  a given  piece. 

At  this  period  Barye  sold  a small  rabbit,  without  base,  for  half  a dol- 
lar, the  little  turtle  for  sixty  cents,  and  the  Hippogriff  for  $140.  No 
single  piece  cost  more  than  this.  The  grand  candelabrum  covered  with 
flgures  and  decorative  monsters  cost  $200  the  pair;  and  another 
with  ten  figures  $280.  These  were  the  highest  prices  he  asked,  nor  was 
it  possible  for  him  to  raise  his  demands  much  during  the  twenty  years 
that  remained  to  1dm  of  life. 

Yet  there  was  some  improvement  from  the  fact  that  he  did  make  sales. 
Strange  to  say,  it  was  to  Americans  rather  than  to  his  own  people,  to 
curious  citizens  of  the  United  States  poking  about  in  odd  corners  of  the 
old  counti'y,  delighted  to  discover  things  that  do  not  exist  at  home,  and 
bringing  with  them,  hidden  under  the  exterior  of  indifference  for  which 
they  are  blamed,  a fresh  way  of  looking  at  art  as  well  as  questions  of 
society  and  politics.  The  painter  William  M.  Hunt  was  an  admirer 
of  Barye,  bought  many  pieces  and  urged  his  friends  from  Boston  and 
New  York  to  acquire  them. 

Mr.  William  T.  Walters  of  Baltimore  was  a visitor  to  the  dingy 
little  shop,  Quai  des  Celestins,  as  early  as  1859.  While  the  civil  war 


95 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


raged  he  remained  in  Paris,  often  shipping  Barye  bronzes  as  presents 
to  his  friends  at  home,  some  of  whom  were  by  no  means  cultivated 
enough  in  the  ‘section  of  artistic  bronzes’  to  appreciate  what  they 
had  received.  One  of  the  pains  of  the  discoverer  consists  in  having  the 
teeth  of  his  gift  horses  examined  with  scant  courtesy.  The  nucleus 
of  the  collection  in  the  Corcoran  was  now  bought  by  Mr.  Walters.  Mr. 
Richard  M.  Hunt  the  architect  followed  the  lectures  of  Barye  at  the 
Jardin  des  Plantes  in  1861,  modeling  various  animal  figures  under 
his  supervision,  and  became  not  only  a focus  of  enthusiasm  re- 
garding his  works,  but  a warm  admirer  of  the  kindly,  firm-lipped 
old  man.  Others  sought  out  a sculptor  who  could,  as  they  perceived 
when  visiting  the  Tuileries  and  Luxembourg,  model  wild  beasts  at  two 
extremes  of  passion  like  the  Jaguar  Devouring  the  Hare  or  Lion  and 
Serpent,  and  the  Seated  Lion  of  the  Louvre  wicket.  Like  so  many 
another  French  artist,  Barye  began  to  realize  that  if  his  countrymen  did 
not  value  him  at  his  worth,  the  world  after  all  is  not  limited  to  Paris, 
nor  even  to  France  — a thought  difficult  to  bring  to  any  sort  of  quick- 
ened consciousness  in  the  mind  of  a Frenchman. 

Barye  was  like  Rousseau  a confirmed  home-stayer.  There  is  no 
record  of  his  having  ever  left  his  native  land,  not  even  when  a soldier, 
and  the  chances  are  strongly  in  favor  of  this  singular  phenomenon  — 
that  the  sculptor  of  deadly  combats  between  wild  beasts  in  Africa,  Asia, 
the  tropics  and  the  Arctic  Circle  never  went  further  from  Paris  than 
the  village  of  Barbizon. 

The  fact  may  be  used  as  an  argument  against  Barye  on  the  score  that 
one  who  has  not  studied  wild  animals  in  freedom  can  not  really  under- 
stand them  and  give  their  true  movement.  On  the  other  hand  it  may 
be  said  that  one  should  not  derogate  from  an  artist’s  work  because  he 
has  not  performed  the  impossible.  There  is  no  known  way  for  an  artist 
to  observe  the  carnivora  in  freedom  unless  he  goes  to  enormous  ex- 
pense. Should  he  imitate  the  method  of  catching  leopards  and  lions 
depicted  by  an  ancient  artist  on  the  walls  of  a grand  tomb  discovered 
near  Rome  some  centuries  ago,  he  would  not  be  much  better  off,  and 


dREYHOUND  AND  HARE 


MISTAKE  OF  NEGLECTING  BARYE 


certainly  lie  would  not  be  so  free  from  nervousness  as  if  be  frequented 
a menagerie  where  a reasonable  range  is  given  to  the  big  cats.  In  the 
Roman  wall-painting  men  carry  very  large  shields,  under  which  they 
quietly  hide  themselves  when  the  lions  approach.  They  are  acting 
exactly  like  the  tortoise  which  withdraws  itself  into  the  shell  on  the 
approach  of  a jaguar,  but  at  least  they  can  prevent  the  wild  beast  from 
turning  their  shelter  over  as  the  tortoise  can  not.  A number  of  men 
provided  with  such  shields  were  able,  if  we  may  trust  the  pictures,  to 
gradually  drive  a wild  beast  into  a trap,  or  to  lasso  or  kill  it  if  necessary. 
Evidently  the  Roman  artist  wished  to  show  how  the  wild  beasts  were 
procured  for  the  arena.  Such  a contrivance  may  be  recommended  to 
the  sculptor  who  wishes  to  be  yet  more  thorough  than  Barye  and  study 
great  game,  somewhat  as  one  of  the  Parisian  painters  watches  the  life 
and  landscape  of  the  city  from  a cab. 

But  Barye  was  never  so  great  a realist  as  certain  artists  of  the  present 
day.  He  had  his  realistic  period,  represented  by  the  Tiger  and  Crocodile 
(1831)  but  the  Lion  and  Serpent  (1833)  already  shows  a great  change 
toward  broader  handling,  while  the  Seated  Lion  shown  in  plaster  in 
1836  offers  a proof  that  he  was  emancipated  entirely  from  a petty  way 
of  looking  at  things.  The  management  of  the  fur  on  this  beast  is 
strictly  in  sympathy  with  the  grand  modeling  of  the  body  as  well  as 
with  that  mighty  look  of  aloofness  in  the  lion  which  is  so  terrible  yet 
fascinating  to  behold  — a look  that  the  sculptor  has  reproduced  to  a 
degree  unknown  to  the  present  writer  in  any  sculptui'e,  ancient  or 
modern. 

IV 

The  mistake  of  passing  over  Barye  when  great  monuments  for  Paris 
were  in  question  was  perceived  very  generally  about  1861.  Though  he 
was  already  past  his  prime,  it  needed  another  ten  years  to  bring  the 
public  into  sufficient  movement  to  cause  a demand  for  his  services.  If 
he  had  remained  as  vigorous  and  productive  as  during  the  years  of 
abstention  from  the  Salon,  perhaps  the  neglect  would  have  been  con- 


13 


97 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOK 


tiuued  ; as  lie  grew  feebler  and  produced  less,  more  attention  was  paid 
him.  Barye  recognized  or  perhaps  imagined  the  falling  off  of  his 
powers,  for  he  remarked  rather  sadly  to  a friend  who  congratulated  him 
on  receiving  a commission : ‘ I have  waited  all  my  life  for  patronage, 
and  now  it  comes  to  me  just  as  I am  closing  my  shutters.’  He  realized 
that  the  most  vigorous  and  productive  years  had  been  spent  on  small 
pieces  which  are  certainly  wonderful  enough,  but  must  have  seemed 
rather  pitiable  to  an  artist  who  felt  himself  equal  to  the  largest  and 
grandest  efforts  in  his  profession.  It  was  a more  than  commonly  hard 
example  of  ars  longa  brevis  vita , for  the  art  had  been  reached  many 
years  before  it  was  demanded.  One  reason  for  this  phenomenon  rests  on 
the  longing  for  what  one  can  not  get.  People  looked  about  them  and 
discovered  that  the  whole  half  century  had  produced  but  one  sculptor 
of  animals  who  showed  great  genius. 

Then,  the  reader  suggests,  of  course  commissions  for  animal  groups 
came  thick  and  fast ! 

Not  at  all.  Barye  was  given  a draped  female  Saint  to  carve  in  marble 
for  a chapel  in  the  Madeleine.  In  1862  he  received  an  order  of  an  eques- 
trian statue  of  Napoleon  I in  bronze  to  be  erected  at  Ajaccio,  Corsica,  a 
spot  he  had  never  seen  and  indeed  never  did  see,  the  monument  being 
erected  without  his  presence  or  care.  The  Sainte  Clotilde  at  the 
Madeleine  is  sweet  of  face  and  graceful  as  to  drapery  but  the  Napoleon 
I at  Ajaccio  comes  perilously  near  being  a failure.  Yet  to  the  epoch 
1850  to  1860  belong  statues  and  groups  into  the  making  of  which  the 
best  powers  of  Barye  went.  His  merits  as  an  artist  risen  from  the 
ranks  of  artisans  were  never  denied.  Only  he  suffered  from  the  caste 
feeling  which  introduced  itself  into  such  matters  from  the  surrounding 
social  atmosphere  and  which  bade  him  remain  an  artisan  and  cease 
trying  to  be  an  artist. 

We  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  him  in  1863  President  of  the  Con- 
sultative Commission  for  what  is  called  the  Central  Union  of  Arts 
applied  to  Industries.  His  statuettes  were  indeed  conceived  and 
modeled  on  a scale  which  adapted  them  to  enlargement,  but  they  were 


98 


No.  73.  Walking  Lion  in  Solid  Silver. 


THE  LION  OF  SOLID  SILVER 


table  and  mantel  ornaments  nevertheless,  even  as  Barye’s  enemies 
sneered.  More  strictly  belonging  to  the  field  of  arts  applied  to  in- 
dustries are  the  candelabra,  such  as  those  showing  a stag  rubbing  its 
antlers  against  a trunk,  or  those  designed  on  the  poppy  plant  as  the 
theme  of  ornamentation.  In  the  Hdtel  Pereire  at  Paris  is  a clock  with 
a decoration  by  Barye  never  repeated  and  therefore  unique.  The 
figures  of  the  Hours  lead  onward  the  horses  of  the  San  while  Apollo 
himself  guides  the  chariot.  Separate  studies  for  the  chariot  and  female 
Hours  together  with  a standing  and  a seated  Apollo  are  in  the  owner- 
ship of  his  daughters. 

Without  ever  becoming  popular  Barye  had  thus  won  for  himself  in 
his  sixty-eighth  year  an  enviable  reputation  as  a sculptor  and  the 
warmest  of  friends  as  a lovable  sturdy  soul.  When  a piece  of  silver  was 
needed  for  the  Grand  Prix  at  the  Longchamps  races  Barye  was  asked 
to  put  in  solid  silver  his  Walking  Lion,  that  august  beast  which  shows 
in  its  gait  as  well  as  its  face  an  anger  colossal,  yet  as  cold  as  befits  a 
sovereign  without  ruth  accustomed  to  destroy  whatever  comes  in  his 
path.  This  beautiful  work  which  is  now  in  Baltimore  was  won  by 
Comte  de  la  Grange  with  the  racing  mare  Fille  de  l’Air. 

A pretty  story  is  connected  with  the  piece  which  is  fortunately  not 
of  the  mythical  kind.  The  sculptor  had  received  a certain  sum  for 
the  purpose,  but  on  weighing  the  lion  after  casting,  he  discovered 
that  there  was  less  silver  by  weight  in  the  object  than  he  had  received. 
To  equalize  matters  and  at  the  same  time  make  it  impossible  for  any 
charge  against  his  honesty  when  all  who  knew  the  circumstances  were 
dead,  he  cast  some  silver  in  flat  bars  and  screwed  them  on  the  bottom 
of  the  stand  without  saying  a word  to  anyone,  thus  bringing  the  whole 
up  to  the  weight  desired.  This  was  only  one  case  in  point ; he  was 
always  extremely  sensitive  of  his  personal  honor  and  at  times  suffered 
in  pocket  more  seriously  than  this  in  order  to  keep  his  self-respect 
untouched. 

Eugene  Delacroix  died  in  this  year,  having  fought  his  way  into  the 
Institute  and  having  held  aloof  from  Barye  the  greater  part  of  his  life. 


99 


LIFE  OF  BAfiYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


In  1865  Barye  was  commissioned  to  model  an  equestrian  statue  of 
Napoleon  I for  the  town  of  Grenoble.  We  have  a statuette  that  em- 
bodies the  sculptor’s  general  idea;  it  is  not  very  remarkable,  though 
well-studied,  and  superior  so  far  as  regards  the  horse.  Whilst  he  was 
at  work  on  it  in  a studio  hired  for  the  purpose  in  the  Rue  Mouffle- 
tard  he  learned  that  M.  Mercie  had  been  asked  to  submit  a model 
likewise.  Instantly  Barye  decided  to  withdraw  from  the  affair.  But 
he  would  not  do  so  in  a vulgar  way,  by  making  a scene  and  by 
advancing  the  right  of  a sculptor  of  his  eminence  to  a commission 
unbothered  by  a rival.  He  decided  to  give  the  authorities  some  civil 
excuse  for  throwing  up  the  commission,  and  the  letter  which  is  repro- 
duced here  in  fac-simile  was  the  result.  Observe  that  on  this  occasion 
when  Barye  would  have  been  certain  to  explode  with  indignation,  had 
he  really  been  the  hot-tempered,  sharp-tongued  man  some  anecdotes  pro- 
claim him,  he  is  dignified,  easy  and  even  diplomatic.  Some  trouble  with 
his  landlord  in  the  studio  of  Rue  Mouffletard  serves  as  the  smoke  under 
which  he  quietly  leaves  the  field  on  the  16th  of  April  1866. 

He  was  not  without  statues  of  human  figures  of  the  highest  sort 
to  prove  his  capacity,  but  unfortunately  few  knew  of  their  existence. 
In  1854  the  architect  whose  glory  it  is  that  he  nearly  finished  the 
Louvre  demanded  from  him  a group  in  stone  for  one  of  the  inner  faces 
of  the  Carrousel  court-yard  — a group  of  War.  M.  Lefuel  was  so  well 
pleased  with  War  that  he  ordered  three  more  groups  on  the  spot,  namely 
Peace,  Order  and  Force.  Strange  to  say  these  groups  are  seen  by  more 
people  and  can  be  better  studied  in  the  United  States  than  in  France. 
For  while  Lefuel  perched  them  high  up  beyond  the  range  of  ordinary 
eye-sight,  where  they  are  overcrowded  by  the  excessive  ornamentation  of 
the  Louvre,  the  city  of  Baltimore  has  them  on  one  of  its  open  squares, 
just  on  a level  with  the  eyes.  The  originals  are  of  stone  half  the  size 
of  life,  but  they  are  rarely  seen  because  impossible  to  examine  prop- 
erly without  a scaffolding.  The  reproductions  are  in  bronze  and  ad- 
mirably adapted  for  examination.  Perhaps  they  would  be  still  better 
seen  in  Baltimore  if  placed  near  a wall,  because  the  sculptor  designed 


100 


NO.  74. 

WAR 

Stone  Group  on  Louvre 


NO.  75- 

peace. 

Stone  Group  on  Louvre 


THE  FOUR  STONE  GROUPS  ON  THE  LOUVRE 


them  with  the  intention  of  having  their  hacks  turned  from  the  spec- 
tator. Their  present  arrangement  at  Baltimore  has  this  advantage 
however  that  one  can  see  how  conscientiously  Barye  treated  those 
parts  of  a group  which  were  to  remain  unseen.  There  again  we 
catch  the  Japanese  touch — hacks  and  insides  must  have  their  own 
thought  bestowed  on  them,  their  own  scheme  of  decoration. 

It  is  certainly  a marvel  that  Barye,  after  so  long  a neglect  of  his 
powers  to  model  human  figures  for  public  monuments,  should  he  able 
to  work  on  them  as  if  he  were  commonly  asked  for  such  things.  Each 
group  has  an  animal,  a hoy  and  a man,  but  each  must  he  different  from 
the  other  while  preserving  the  same  ideal  of  man  and  hoy,  and  each 
must  express  a very  generalized  thought.  War — peace  — order — force  : 
in  these  words  there  is  no  peg  to  hang  a theme  on.  But  the  sculptor 
solves  all  four  problems  with  an  ease  that  makes  one  think  of  the 
Greek  artists;  the  ease  that  contains  no  faintest  suggestion  of  weari- 
ness, but  on  the  contrary  inexhaustible  reserves  of  thought  from  which 
the  artist  may  draw  if  so  he  wills.  This  effect,  obscure  though  the 
points  may  be  which  cause  the  suggestion,  is  common  to  works  of 
genius  of  all  kinds. 

Perhaps  nothing  distinguishes  Barye  more  from  the  too  clever  artists 
which  grew  up  in  France  before  he  died  than  a certain  homely  rugged- 
ness about  his  groups  of  statuary  which  gives  a false  impression  of  the 
ease  with  which  such  things  can  be  done.  While  some  of  the  later 
brood  of  artists  excite  one  at  first  by  their  marvelous  dexterity  of  hand, 
they  soon  cease  to  interest.  In  sculpture  the  extreme  of  this  is  reached 
by  those  who  indulge  in  tricks  and  prettinesses  with  marble  that  can  not 
fail  to  extort  surprise,  but  cause  one  presently  an  infinite  weariness 
and  disgust.  Yet  Barye  did  not  go  to  the  other  extreme  and  neglect 
modeling  out  of  anger  and  contempt  for  nigglers  and  literalists.  He 
held  his  own  road  quietly  without  going  from  the  line  he  thought 
best,  either  for  the  purpose  of  reforming  sculpture  or  attempting  to 
found  a school.  Yet  found  a school  he  did,  little  as  he  imagined  him- 
self doing  anything  of  the  kind.  Perhaps  all  sculptors  of  animals  must 


101 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


be  to  some  extent  his  disciples,  but  we  have  in  Mr.  Edward  Kemeys  of 
New  York  a student  of  beasts  who  may  go  far  if  he  takes  to  heart 
the  life-giving  conclusions  that  may  be  drawn  from  Barye’s  work  and 
avoid  external  methods  and  the  mere  facile  imitation  of  his  subjects. 

Of  the  four  symbolical  groups  on  the  Louvre  the  first  is  unquestion- 
ably the  finest.  War,  represented  by  a stalwart  man  laying  his  hand 
on  a sword,  a boy  full  of  the  thoughtlessness  of  extreme  youth  blowing 
gayly  a trumpet,  and  by  the  horse,  man’s  chosen  comrade  in  war,  has 
at  once  the  alert  and  reposeful  look  befitting  statuary  of  the  best  sort. 
In  each  group  the  animal  is  recumbent  and  forms  the  lower  plane, 
being  disposed  in  a semi-circle  round  man  and  boy.  The  horse  of  War 
with  ears  pricked  looks  out  from  the  side  of  the  seated  man.  In  Force 
the  lion  holds  much  the  same  position  ; but  what  a different  creature 
from  that  which  marches  so  grimly,  with  such  a scowl  in  the  Walking 
Lion  or  looks  with  such  sullen  disdain  from  his  pedestal  near  the  Seine 
or  wrinkles  his  horrid  muzzle  at  the  sight  of  the  serpent ! This  is  a 
sleepy  lion  hdled  by  the  poppies  of  peace  into  that  state  of  gentleness 
in  which  a child  can  drive  it  hither  and  thither.  It  may  be  that  at  the 
Jardin  des  Plantes  the  sculptor  saw  more  than  one  lion  reduced  by 
age  and  captivity  to  the  appearance  of  this  type  of  strength. 

Very  different  is  the  tiger  in  the  group  called  Order.  Here  it  typifies 
the  perverse  — the  Communards,  the  Anarchists  and  the  fishers  in 
troubled  waters.  Forced  to  remain  quiet,  the  sanguinary  beast  opens 
wide  its  mouth  in  a roar  of  rage.  The  bull  in  the  group  named  Peace 
represents  the  peasantry  and  laboring  classes  generally,  and  the  deter- 
mined but  quiet  attitude  of  the  man  means  that  he  typifies  the  force  of 
good  government,  which  protects  labor.  In  all  four  the  gestures  are 
quiet  though  expressive  enough.  But  they  leave  the  impression  that 
their  maker  is  not  a Frenchman;  or  if  a Frenchman,  then  one  of  a 
previous  age,  say  the  comrade  of  Poussin  who  loved  the  classics  and 
the  classic  land  yet  remained  always  a Gaul. 

The  foreign  appearance  of  Barye’s  genius  in  his  own  land  is  a phe- 
nomenon that  many  may  have  noted  but  no  one  has  explained.  In  the 


102 


NO.  76- 

order. 

Stone  Group  on  Louvre 


NO.  77 


FORCE 

Stone  Group  on  Louvre 


BARYE  A SURVIVAL  OF  ANCIENT  RACES 


foregoing  pages  I have  tried  to  lead  back  his  peculiar  characteristics  to 
the  scientific  knowledge  which  he  partly  imbibed  from  the  age,  partly 
acquired  by  hard  study.  But  there  remains  an  element  besides  which 
may  be  likened  to  the  instinctive  qualities  in  contrast  with  the  intellec- 
tual, the  hereditary  rather  than  the  educated  side  of  a person.  Here  we 
uncover  one  important  root  of  Barye’s  personality.  And  whither  does 
it  lead?  Not  out  of  France,  although  it  seems  so  foreign  to  our  con- 
ventional ideas  of  a Frenchman  as  a gesticulatory  and  fickle  man  — 
brilliant  but  lacking  in  sturdiness. 

Why  not  look  for  it  in  the  lowest  stratum  of  the  populace,  by  which  a 
bad  stratum  is  not  meant ; the  layer  in  fact  which  retains  least  mixed 
with  their  conquerors  the  populations  that  held  France  before  the 
Kelts  arrived?  May  we  not  refer  such  natures  as  Barye’s,  especially 
when  we  find  them  in  solid  figures  like  his,  to  the  old  populace  of 
Europe,  which  was  overspread  by  Kelt  and  Teuton  until  their  language 
and  religion  became  submerged  and  lost — the  old  folk  of  whom  Finn 
and  Esth  and  Magyar  and  Turk  are  living  fragments?  We  have 
already  seen  that  Barye’s  name  may  be  explained  to  mean  bear  in  these 
tongues  and  that  from  them  English,  German  and  Scandinavian  obtain 
it,  while  Arkas  and  Arthur  are  its  equivalents  in  the  names  mean- 
ing bear  which  are  proper  to  the  Aryan  languages. 

V 

Whilst  we  are  considering  the  four  groups  of  the  Carrousel  Court  it 
is  proper  to  note  that  while  in  Peace  the  man,  boy  with  flute  and  bull 
are  at  rest,  so  that  they  form  an  idyl  in  stone,  and  while  Order  is  a 
group  which  is  extremely  reposeful  with  the  exception  of  the  tiger,  the 
group  of  War  and  that  of  Force  did  not  suggest  to  Barye  violent  move- 
ment. At  the  most  War  is  energized  by  the  uplifted  elbow  of  the  man 
whose  hail*  is  crowned  with  laurels  and  by  the  fine  movement  of  the 
trumpet  in  the  boy’s  hands.  Yet  even  in  the  War  group  the  horse 
merely  raises  its  head  and  pricks  its  ears.  Force  is  calmness  itself,  the 
lion  as  quiet  as  a purring  cat,  the  little  boy  reflective  as  he  props  chin 


103 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


on  hand,  the  man  thoughtful  and  merely  indicative  of  power  through 
the  magnificent  muscles  displayed  by  the  arm  that  holds  a stick.  Among 
the  four  men  of  these  groups  assuredly  he  of  Force  is  the  subtlest 
as  well  as  the  nearest  to  the  antique  in  his  calm  beauty.  The  boys 
are  all  charming,  but  perhaps  the  little  fluteplayer  winds  his  way  deep- 
est into  one’s  affections.  Among  the  four  beasts  it  were  hard  to  choose. 
They  make  one  think  of  the  emblems  associated  in  the  middle  ages  with 
three  of  the  four  Evangelists. 

Those  who  study  Barye  carefully  do  not  need  these  groups  as  wit- 
nesses to  his  consummate  skill  in  modeling  the  human  figure;  for  that 
skill  was  shown  in  embryo  with  the  medal  that  won  him  a second  prize 
in  1819.  But  for  people  who  have  investigated  Barye  no  further  than 
to  realize  his  astonishing  deserts  as  a sculptor  of  animals  these  groups 
will  be  a revelation.  They  must  be  placed  by  the  imagination  at  a 
certain  height  against  a background  of  architecture  richly  decorated,  not 
half  so  high  up  however  as  the  originals  are,  but  about  six  or  ten  feet 
from  the  ground.  Then  the  bent  faces  of  the  man  and  boy  in  three  of 
the  groups  will  be  understood,  as  well  as  the  peculiar  symmetry  of  the 
grouping,  which  presents  in  each  case  the  same  general  arrangement. 

Naturally  a criticism  as  to  the  place  they  ought  to  occupy  in  order  to 
be  seen  to  the  best  advantage  holds  good  with  the  bronze  copies,  the  only 
difference  being  that  their  apparent  smaller  size  due  to  the  dark  color  of 
the  bronze  demands  for  them  a nearer  view.  Hence  it  might  be  well  for 
Baltimore  to  ask  that  the  bronzes  on  Mount  Vernon  Square  be  shifted 
from  their  present  positions  and  placed  against  the  base  of  the  Wash- 
ington Column  in  niches  specially  prepared  for  them.  They  would  then 
get  the  proper  altitude  from  which  to  be  seen  at  their  best  and  also  the 
background  similar  to  that  which  they  have  in  the  Louvre,  but  more 
advantageous  in  that  it  is  simpler  and  will  throw  them  into  greater 
relief.  Besides  these  four  bronzes,  Baltimore  has,  also  through  the 
liberality  of  Mr.  Walters,  a superb  copy  in  bronze  of  the  Lion  in  Repose 
that  sits  in  duplicate  by  the  river  gate  of  the  Louvre.  This  is  also  from 
the  Barbedienne  factory  and  likewise  is  of  the  same  size  as  the  original. 


104 


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<} 


, / . a .•  y <2 


NO.  79- 

autograph  LETTER  BY  A.  L BARYE 


DID  BARYE  ADMIRE  THE  BONAPARTES? 


Orders  now  began  to  flow  in  upon  Barye.  One  of  the  legitimate 
glories  of  the  reign  of  Napoleon  III  is  the  earnest  effort  made  to 
advance  the  country  in  industries  and  the  fine  arts.  The  taste  that 
presided  at  the  Tuileries  was  far  from  faultless  and  many  poor  sculp- 
tors, painters  and  architects  were  favored ; but  some  of  the  encourage- 
ments given  with  a generous  hand  fell  to  artists  of  the  highest  rank. 
Barye  received  a request  for  a model  of  an  equestrian  monument  to 
Napoleon  I in  the  town  of  Grenoble,  but  this  as  we  have  seen  fell  through 
because  he  became  incensed  that  Mercie  should  have  been  asked  also. 

To  1866  belongs  a bronze  relief  that  was  formerly  to  be  seen  on  the 
Pavilion  Lesdiguieres  over  the  entrance  from  the  quay  of  the  Seine 
into  the  same  Carrousel  Court  of  the  Louvre.  It  was  a triumphal  scene 
in  honor  of  Napoleon  III  who  is  depicted  as  a Roman  conqueror.  Napo- 
leon III  Dominating  History  and  the  Arts  was  one  of  Barye’s  failures, 
partly,  it  is  said,  because  he  was  not  allowed  to  carry  it  out  in  as  high 
relief  as  he  wished,  but  had  to  adjust  his  planes  to  the  whims  of  others. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  he  would  have  reached  his  own  level  in  any 
case,  for  Napoleon  III,  whatever  his  virtues  in  seeking  to  foster  the  arts, 
was  not  the  man  to  inspire  an  artist.  Barye  has  made  a delightful  statu- 
ette of  the  Great  Napoleon  as  Consul,  where  the  Directoire  uniform  and 
the  handsome  young  face  lent  themselves  to  art ; but  his  monument  for 
Grenoble  which  we  have  in  a small  bronze,  and  his  monument  at  Ajaccio, 
Corsica,  testify  that  the  sculptor’s  originality  became  paralyzed  when 
the  problem  was  to  model  Napoleon  as  Emperor. 

Barye  was  a man  who  spoke  little  and  wrote  not  at  all.  To  penetrate 
his  thoughts  we  are  forced  back  on  his  statuettes  and  other  works  of 
art.  Judging  from  these  one  is  tempted  to  conclude  that  he  had  no 
love  or  admiration  for  the  ruthless  Corsican  and  none  for  the  dreamy 
nephew,  under  whose  rule  however  he  reached  his  greatest  fame.  Not  a 
revolutionist  by  temperament,  he  was  a man  of  the  people  and  disliked 
autocrats.  If  a ruler  was  inevitable  then  he  preferred  a constitutional 
monarch  of  the  type  of  Louis  Philippe,  to  whose  family,  besides,  he 
owed  the  first  great  encouragements  and  successes  of  his  life. 


14 


105 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


But  after  all  we  can  enter  a very  short  way  into  the  mind  of  a 
man  like  Barye.  He  belongs  to  the  great  classes  on  whose  opinions 
the  statesmen  and  politicians  are  forever  speculating.  Instead  of 
talking  they  keep  obstinately  silent,  and  then,  some  fine  day,  discov- 
ering that  things  are  not  to  their  liking,  rouse  themselves  and  upset 
all  the  neat  calculations  of  ambition  and  greed.  All  we  can  surely  say 
of  Barye  is  that  his  opinions  have  a certain  guarded  expression  in 
the  four  groups  that  exist  for  the  sparrows  and  pigeons  on  the  Car- 
rousel Court  high  up  on  the  inner  faces  of  Pavilions  Denon  and  Mol- 
lien.  As  to  Napoleon  III  Dominating  History  and  the  Arts  it  was 
saved  from  the  fury  of  the  mob  in  1870  by  a thick  coat  of  plaster  and 
was  afterwards  removed  to  the  warehouses  of  the  government,  into 
which  rejected  articles  are  turned,  as  well  as  a thousand  works  of  art 
purchased  for  one  reason  or  another  but  never  placed.  Thence  it  has 
never  emerged ; no  loss  to  the  world  therefrom  ! 

The  same  spot  that  holds  the  four  groups  offers  other  examples  of 
Barye’s  power  to  model  the  human  nude  in  such  a way  as  to  preserve 
classical  proportions  yet  gain  the  best  decorative  effect  for  architecture. 
That  place  over  the  arch  leading  to  the  Carrousel  Court  whence  the 
equestrian  bas-relief  of  Napoleon  III  was  torn  has  river-gods,  leaning 
each  an  arm  on  a jar.  They  are  two  youths  differing  one  from  the  other 
in  slight  particulars.  They  are  looking  down  as  if  at  the  water  that  is 
supposed  to  escape  from  the  jar.  They  recall  a lounging  statue  from 
the  corner  of  a pediment  on  one  of  the  most  famous  temples  of  Greece, 
but  this  is  rather  the  result  of  the  necessary  adaptation  of  the  human 
figure  to  a somewhat  similar  space  than  an  imitation.  The  Greek 
sculptor  had  to  put  the  legs  of  the  figure  into  the  narrow  angle  of  the 
pediment.  Barye  uses  the  somewhat  triangular  outline  in  order  to 
gain  the  effect  of  supporters  in  heraldry ; for  the  two  river-gods  were 
designed  to  flank  that  important  slab  on  which  Louis  Napoleon  figured 
as  Julius  Caesar,  his  favorite  model  in  history. 

The  rigid  angles  of  Greek  pediments  are  unbeautiful  things,  and  the 
results  to  the  sculptured  figures  introduced  into  them  are,  let  us  be 


106 


^No.  /8.  The  Seine:  Left-Hand  River-God,  Louvre. 
Stone.  Height,  23  inches. 


THE  SEINE  AS  A RIVER-GOD 


frank  about  it,  often  most  unfortunate.  What  can  be  worse  than  the 
boxed  and  constricted  look  of  some  of  the  outer  figures  on  the  pedi- 
ments of  the  Parthenon?  In  this  case  the  pyramidal  effect  is  pro- 
duced, with  a much  more  agreeable  pitch  to  the  slope,  by  the  mass  of 
the  figure  itself.  There  is  no  harsh,  stiff  line  impending  over  the 
sculptures.  It  is  heresy  to  attack  the  Greeks  in  anything,  but  their 
merits  will  shine  out  all  the  more  brilliant  if  their  shortcomings  are 
not  ignored.  The  wood-cut  shows  one  of  the  two  river-gods  from 
the  reduction  in  bronze  by  M.  Barbedienne. 

But  though  Barye  was  at  this  time  an  old  man  and  his  merit  as  a 
sculptor  of  the  human  figure  was  established  by  these  handsome  shapes, 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  he  began  to  neglect  the  study  of  animals. 
The  more  he  worked  at  beasts  the  more  problems  arose  and  the  deeper 
grew  his  marveling  at  their  beauty.  The  painter  Fromentin  passed  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  struggling  with  the  difficulties  of  the  horse  in 
action,  and  his  most  candid  biographer  acknowledges  that  he  never 
succeeded  in  painting  a horse  as  it  can  be  done.  Even  Meissonier  has 
not  completely  mastered  the  action  of  the  horse.  When  the  instanta- 
neous photograph  was  broached,  he  like  many  lesser  lights  fancied  that 
in  such  a means  of  certifying  the  actual  position  of  the  limbs  during  a 
portion  of  a second  we  had  found  terra  firma  at  last.  Barye  on  the 
other  hand  by  virtue  of  genius  united  with  intense  application  solved 
the  problem  twenty  times.  In  1863  the  American  amateur  who  has 
done  him  the  greatest  honors  in  our  land  called  at  his  house  on  the 
Quai  des  Celestins  only  to  find  that  as  usual  he  was  not  at  home. 
Madame  Barye  smiled  in  his  earnest  face  and  exclaimed : 

‘Ah,  sir,  there  is  no  use  calling  for  three  weeks.  A new  tiger  has 
arrived  from  Bengal ; until  its  wildness  is  gone — no  Monsieur  Barye  !’ 
We  have  seen  that  Barye  began  the  public  exhibition  of  animal 
groups  with  one  that  shows  the  greatest  elaboration  of  hair,  scales,  folds 
of  skin,  prominences  and  depressions  of  hide,  even  to  trivial  objects  on 
the  fictitious  ground  where  the  struggle  goes  on.  We  have  noted  that 
he  very  soon  departed  from  this  minute  handling,  showing  more  breadth 


107 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


in  Lion  and  Serpent,  and  still  more  in  Seated  Lion.  This  tendency 
toward  omission  of  the  unimportant  is  even  seen  in  the  little  cat.  It 
differs  from  ten  thousand  other  seated  cats  wrought  in  terra-cotta,  glass, 
porcelain,  wood,  ivory  and  stone,  not  to  speak  of  metals,  in  that  the 
modeling  is  very  broad.  Indeed  when  one  first  takes  such  a little  object 
in  hand  the  breadth  irritates,  for  it  looks  like  ignorance  or  carelessness. 
But  try  the  experiment  of  having  on  your  writing  table  a Barye  cat  and 
a seated  cat  by  another  artist,  even  an  artist  like  Mene  who  works  in  a 
broad  way  also,  even  a group  by  Cain.  In  the  long  run  the  uncarved, 
unworried  handling  of  Barye  tells  and  his  statuette  is  preferred. 

The  same  lesson  is  learned  in  painting.  Here  too  the  amateur  begins 
by  preferring  canvases  to  which  it  is  evident  the  painter  has  given 
many  weeks  of  faithful  toil.  Perhaps  it  is  one  of  those  imitative  things 
that  charms  the  amateur,  a painting  of  soiled  currency  or  of  placards 
pasted  on  a board  fence,  in  which  all  kinds  of  tricks  and  illusions  of 
the  eye  testify  to  the  artist’s  cleverness  of  touch.  Then  this  sort  of 
painting  palls  and  seems  trivial.  The  next  step  is  toward  art  of  greater 
depth,  but  still  obvious,  logical,  tangible  art,  if  that  word  be  permitted ; 
say  the  paintings  of  Vibert  and  Gerome.  But  after  passing  through 
phases  of  admiration  for  Bouguereau  and  Meissonier,  let  us  say,  the 
amateur  begins  to  long  for  something  less  obvious  and  more  imagina- 
tive. He  no  longer  asks  that  the  painter  tell  everything.  He  is  grate- 
ful to  him  if  he  do  not,  but  will  permit  him,  the  amateur,  to  use  his  own 
powers  of  imagination  to  supply  what  is  lacking,  all  the  artist’s  strength 
going  to  the  essentials,  leaving  the  less  important  out.  Here  we  have 
the  amateur  of  paintings  ready  for  symbolical  and  religious  pictures  of 
the  best  sort,  and  for  landscapes  like  those  of  Corot  and  Rousseau,  for 
landscapes  with  figures  by  Millet,  and  the  works  of  those  Impressionists 
of  the  present  day  who  execute  from  original  conviction  and  after  pro- 
found studies,  not  because  some  other  man  has  suggested  that  such 
handling  pays  at  least  in  the  coin  of  notoriety,  if  in  no  other. 

This  is  a summary  sketch  of  the  development  that  has  gone  on  in  the 
taste  of  a thousand  collectors  in  France  and  the  United  States.  Many 


108 


no.  a. 

SEATED  CAT 
Height  41^  inches 


t l-  .OH 

T * 0 0 S'  T A ■»  i 
: ; - . ::  H 


BARYE  AS  AN  IMPRESSIONIST 


of  them  protested  at  every  step  an  indifference,  if  not  abhorrence,  of 
the  works  of  art  they  were  soon  to  take  to  their  hearts ; but  the  march 
of  understanding  was  too  strong  for  them.  Coming  to  curse,  they 
remained  to  pray.  The  very  men  who  were  once  outspoken  in  their 
irritation  because  of  an  apparent  slovenliness  of  work  have  been  found, 
a few  years  after,  giving  large  prices  for  exactly  the  same  sort  of  prod- 
ucts they  formerly  denounced. 

This  little  comedy  of  the  amateur  regarded  as  a genus  goes  on  con- 
stantly and  rewards  the  critic  for  a great  deal  that  is  distasteful  in  his 
pursuit.  For  those  artists  who  have  been  abandoned  there  is  always 
one  consolation.  In  an  alert  community  like  ours,  where  the  average 
culture  is  at  a pretty  high  level,  there  is  a constant  supply  of  recruits 
who  are  fitted  exactly  to  understand  and  enjoy  the  work  of  each  artist. 
Many  collectors  hold  to  their  early  admirations,  while  for  each  one 
of  those  who  desert  their  former  loves  ten  patrons  spring  up  in  the 
stratum  of  intelligence  for  which  the  artist  is  able  to  cater. 

Barye,  it  may  surprise  a good  many  persons  to  learn,  was  an  impres- 
sionist in  his  own  way,  and  at  times  as  extreme  an  impressionist  as  ever 
Mr.  Whistler  in  etching  or  M.  Monet  in  paint.  He  was  an  impressionist 
more  after  the  order  of  Courbet  however.  A bronze  that  is  included 
by  Barbedienne  in  his  Barye  reproductions  for  commerce  was  taken 
from  a model  that  Barye  cherished.  It  was  a lion  seated,  differing  from 
the  Lion  of  the  Louvre  gate,  and  from  two  or  three  small  bronze  seated 
lions.  It  is  so  unwrought,  so  composed  of  masses  rather  than  curves 
that  it  recalls  the  unfinished  marbles  by  Michael  Angelo  one  sees  in 
Florence.  It  was  very  natural  that  a visitor,  seeing  this  in  Barye’s 
studio,  should  ask  when  he  meant  to  finish  it. 

‘ It  is  finished  enough  for  me  ’ replied  the  sculptor. 

We  need  not  suppose  that  Barye  would  ever  have  given  this  lion  to 
the  world,  as  M.  Barbedienne  has.  It  is  well  enough,  now  that  he  has 
a host  of  admirers,  to  offer  them  an  example  in  bronze  of  a model  at  the 
point  where  it  pleased  the  sculptor  to  rest  content  and  give  not  one 
stroke  more.  But  had  Barye  issued  it  there  would  have  been  the  fewest 


109 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


possible  buyers  and  the  sculptor  would  have  been  accused  of  affecta- 
tion. It  is  now  an  interesting  example  to  place  in  large  collections  of 
these  bronzes  and  is  merely  noted  in  connection  with  what  has  gone 
before  concerning  that  evolution  of  taste  which  becomes  impatient  of 
the  unimportant  and  longs  merely  for  the  suggestion  from  which  to 
evolve  a thought.  The  reader  will  easily  recall  exactly  parallel  move- 
ments in  the  development  of  taste  in  literature  and  music ; but  such  an 
excursus  would  lead  too  far  away  from  the  province  of  this  book. 

The  year  1866  was  for  Barye  one  in  which  the  bitter-sweet  might 
have  been  his  symbol.  There  appeared  in  L’lllustration  an  article 
by  Theophile  Gautier,  that  old  lion  of  Bohemian  Paris,  with  a portrait 
on  wood  engraved  by  Mouilleron.  But  the  bitter  must  have  been  pecu- 
liarly like  gall  to  a man  of  Barye’s  temperament.  His  friends  induced 
him  to  offer  himself  for  election  to  the  Institute  of  France  and  he  was 
rejected.  What  inducements  they  made  to  bring  him  to  the  necessary 
visits  one  would  like  to  know.  But  those  who  study  Barye  through 
these  acts  as  well  as  his  products  in  art  will  hardly  need  to  be  told  that 
such  a step  indicated  a consciousness  on  his  part  that  his  career  as  an 
original  genius  was  over,  and  that  for  the  sake  of  his  wife  and  children 
he  ought  to  neglect  nothing  that  would  better  their  prospects,  even  at 
the  expense  of  his  lifelong  pride.  If  he  died  ‘ of  the  Institute  ’ there  was 
a pension.  Besides,  his  bronzes,  water-colors  aud  the  rest  would  natur- 
ally fetch  higher  prices  as  the  work  of  a member  of  the  Institute. 

Barye  had  little  reason  to  respect  the  opinion  on  art  matters  of 
any  large  body  of  persons,  whether  artists  or  literary  men.  He  had 
not  been  like  many  of  his  comrades  of  1830  a violent  abuser  of  the 
clever  writers  and  nonentities  who  gained  a place  in  the  Institute,  but 
under  his  firmly  closed  lips  it  was  not  hard  to  detect  a foe  to  such  dis- 
tinctions. Now  he  bowed  to  prejudice  and  for  the  sake  of  his  family 
put  the  cup  to  his  lips.  It  was  the  cup  of  humiliation  — but  even  so  he 
was  not  permitted  to  enjoy  it. 

Some  balm  awaited  his  pride  the  next  year  however  for  he  gained  the 
Grand  Gold  Medal  for  bronzes.  He  was  a member  of  the  jury  for  the 

no 


I'IOHJj  /> 


THE  GRAND  GOLD  MEDAL  IN  18G7 


Exposition  and  while  serving  his  likeness  was  caught  one  day  in  a 
pen  and  ink  sketch  by  the  sculptor  Carpeaux  whose  works,  while  in 
nowise  imitative  of  Barye’s,  show  the  salutary  influence  the  latter  exerted 
on  sculpture  generally  by  entering  a protest  against  trivial,  niggling 
work.  It  has  been  hinted  that  Barye  would  have  derived  much  more 
benefit  financially  speaking,  had  he  received  the  First  Gold  Medal  for 
his  bronzes,  owing  to  the  power  that  medal  has  in  advertising  wares 
to  which  it  has  been  awarded.  By  suggesting  to  the  authorities  that 
an  extraordinary  honor  should  be  awarded  Barye  the  practical  bronze 
founders  are  said  to  have  done  a clever  stroke  of  business  for  them- 
selves and  flattered  the  sculptor  at  the  expense  of  his  pocket.  How- 
ever that  may  be  — and  he  was  certainly  exposed  to  similar  intrigues 
more  than  once  in  his  career  as  a tradesman  — the  medal  was  a dis- 
tinguished mark  of  honor. 

The  same  year  (February  1867)  an  article  on  him  appeared  in  the 
Gazette  des  Beaux  Arts  from  the  accomplished  pen  of  M.  Paul 
Mantz  which  doubtless  contributed  not  a little  to  spread  an  under- 
standing of  the  man,  liis  methods  and  aims.  So  recently  as  May  1889 
the  Gazette  opened  its  pages  to  the  painter  Bonnat,  a lifelong  admirer 
of  Barye.  He  has  given  us  an  enthusiastic  note  on  the  master  which 
will  take  rank  beside  the  portrait  he  painted  of  him  after  death,  a re- 
production of  which  will  be  found  among  these  illustrations. 

It  should  be  noted  however  that  the  very  remarkable  group  belong- 
ing to  M.  Bonnat  which  is  pictured  for  that  article  is  misnamed 
Aurochs  Attaque  par  un  Serpent.  The  beast  wrapped  in  the  folds 
of  the  python  snake  is  a gnu,  that  singular  combination  of  horse, 
antelope  and  ox,  which  is  found  in  Africa  where  the  great  snakes  also 
exist.  The  aurochs  is  practically  extinct,  and  when  it  did  live  was 
a denizen  of  climates  too  cold  for  the  python.  The  gnu  has  a certain 
resemblance  to  the  musk-ox  of  the  Arctic  Circle ; whence  in  all  proba- 
bility the  mistake  arose. 

About  this  period  of  his  life  he  received  au  order  from  Marseilles 
which  must  have  pleased  him,  because  it  showed  that  somebody  besides 

ill 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


Americans  noted  his  power.  The  Chateau  4’  Eau  is  a fine  building  in 
a classic  style  which  ornaments  the  reservoirs  that  supply  the  city  with 
water.  To  adorn  this  building  four  colossal  groups  in  stone  were 
ordered,  namely:  one-sided  combats  between  tigers  and  a stag  and  a 
doe,  and  two  other  groups  in  which  the  lion  is  the  aggressor,  the  prey 
being  in  one  case  a boar,  in  the  other  an  antelope.  These  colossi  were 
thought  so  well  of  that  plaster  casts  of  them  were  afterwards  shown  in 
Paris  at  the  Exposition. 

With  the  year  1868  the  crowning  glory  so  far  as  the  public  is  con- 
cerned reached  Barye  in  his  election  to  the  Institute.  How  it  came 
about  is  not  easy  to  ascertain,  but  the  story  current  was  that  the  ar- 
chitect Lefuel,  a great  friend  of  the  sculptor,  took  him  driving  one 
day,  and  stopping  at  a house  persuaded  Barye  to  come  in  with  him. 
On  entering  the  latter  found  himself  visiting  one  of  the  Immortals  and 
the  secret  was  out.  His  friend,  knowing  that  after  his  rejection  in  1866 
nothing  would  induce  Barye  to  make  the  obligatory  round  of  calls  on 
the  men  who  held  the  chairs,  had  brought  him  to  the  point  by  strategy. 
Once  in  the  distasteful  round,  Barye  persevered  and  was  duly  elected. 
With  this  closed  what  may  be  called  his  active  career  as  an  artist. 
He  had  already  shown  the  defection  of  his  powers  in  the  relief  of 
Napoleon  III  as  a Roman  in  triumph.  Now  indeed  the  time  had  come 
when,  in  his  homely  bourgeois  phrase,  it  was  time  to  put  up  the  shutters. 


112 


LION  OF  THE  JULY  COLUMN.  PLACE  BASTILLE 


Chapter  Five 

I 

artist,  the  author,  the  soldier  ought  to  perform  a supreme 
;t  of  creation  or  of  courage  and  pass  away  while  the  world 
lat  can  understand  is  still  ringing  with  the  achievement. 
But  those  sturdy  natures  in  whom  a physical  power  is  the  comrade  of 
an  intellectual  are  often  and  one  may  say  commonly  destined  to  outlive 
their  period  of  high  achievement. 

This  was  the  case  of  Barye.  He  survived  the  creative  epoch  about 
twenty  years,  since  we  may  consider  the  four  groups  for  the  Coin* 
du  Carrousel  the  terminus  of  his  career  as  a sculptor.  Some  of 
his  latter-day  works  fell  below  his  mark.  They  are  not  weak,  for  it 
seems  impossible  that  Barye  should  be  weak.  But  they  are  common- 
place, but  they  are  dull.  How  much  this  had  to  do  with  old  age,  how 
much  with  an  uncongenial  subject  is  not  readily  seen.  Either  or  both. 
It  would  have  been  beyond  human  likelihood  that  he  should  have 
made  a success  in  every  case,  given  the  great  quantity  and  range  of  his 
work,  extending  as  it  does  from  the  cold  blooded  reptiles  with  skeletons 
on  the  exterior  of  their  frames  to  the  higher  mammals  both  herb-eat- 
15,  113 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


ing  and  flesh-eating,  to  the  anthropoid  apes  and  to  the  human  being. 
Nay,  not  content  with  this  range,  Barye  essayed  the  monsters,  em- 
bodying what  we  learn  of  their  shapes  from  the  literatures  of  Assyria, 
Greece  and  Rome.  Even  this  could  not  serve  as  his  limit,  for  he  dared 
to  vie  with  the  inimitable  masters  of  the  past  and  model  the  portraits 
of  goddesses  and  of  saints. 

But  not  to  mention  his  failures  would  be  unfair.  The  worst  of  all 
was  that  relief  in  the  Roman  spirit  representing  Louis  Napoleon  as  a 
patron  of  the  arts.  There  was  something  cruel  in  asking  a sculptor  of 
Barve’s  antecedents  to  do  such  a work,  and  perhaps  there  was  malice  in 
the  commission ; for  his  friends  had  been  loud  in  their  blame  of  the 
neglect  with  which  he  was  treated.  Yet  after  all  it  may  have  been 
sheer  bureaucratic  stupidity.  A connoisseur  needed  to  review  but  a 
little  of  Barye’s  career  to  know  that  he  was  strongest  in  symbolical  and 
mythological  subjects  into  which  animal  figures  enter.  What  a mag- 
nificent Roc  carrying  off  Sinbad  the  Sailor  would  not  Barye  have 
created!  How  he  would  have  reveled  in  the  symbols  of  the  Four  Evan- 
gelists, giving  to  eagle,  steer,  lion,  ay  and  angel  the  touch  of  the  super- 
natural, of  which  he  almost  alone  in  this  century  possessed  the'  secret ! 
He  alone  could  have  modeled  a Pegasus  that  had  all  the  power  of  the 
horse  and  the  buoyant  look  of  the  bird.  With  one  hint  from  a certain 
Greek  coin  he  might  have  designed  a sea-sei’pent  which  would  satisfy 
the  most  skeptical  that  such  a creature,  if  it  existed  at  all,  must  have 
had  just  that  form.  But  as  luck  would  have  it,  the  only  piece  of 
work  by  Barye  very  prominent  in  Paris,  one  that  could  not  be 
evaded  on  approaching  the  Louvre  by  the  quay  along  the  Seine,  was 
that  very  relief  of  Napoleon  III  trying  to  be  Julius  Crnsar  which  repre- 
sents the  lowest  ebb  of  Barye  as  an  artist!  Fortunately  it  has  not 
troubled  the  admirers  of  the  sculptor  since  1870. 

When  the  day  of  disillusionment  came  and  the  French  found  them- 
selves without  armies  or  Emperor,  the  latter  became  the  scapegoat 
and  no  portrait  of  him  was  safe.  Cowards  and  blusterers  who  dare 
not  face  the  bullet  are  always  ready  to  lead  in  deadly  assaults  upon 


114 


ORDER  FROM  THE  CORCORAN  GALLERY 


pictures  and  statues.  But  the  bas-relief,  which  really  deserved  to  suffer 
from  the  iconoclast,  was  not  permitted  to  be  ruined.  Some  mistaken 
friend  covered  it  with  a thick  layer  of  plaster  to  prevent  its  destruction 
at  the  hands  of  rascals.  The  republic  respected  it  so  far  as  to  relegate 
it  to  some  warehouse,  but  at  the  time  of  the  exhibition  of  Barye’s  works 
this  spring  it  could  not  be  found. 

By  1873  Barye  was  so  conscious  of  the  loss  of  his  powers  that  he 
declined  an  order  for  a vase  given  him  under  the  most  liberal  and  flat- 
tering terms.  Not  that  he  was  enfeebled  and  could  not  work.  He  was 
still  an  active  old  man.  But  he  knew  that  he  could  not  produce  as  in 
former  years.  The  vase  was  to  have  combats  of  Lapiths  and  centaurs 
in  relief,  so  that  he  did  not  need  to  study  fresh  kinds  of  figures.  There 
were  the  sketches  for  the  great  group  of  1850.  But  where  another  might 
have  done  his  best  and  pocketed  the  commission,  relying  on  the  fame  he 
had  already  won,  Barye  felt  scruples. 

There  was  another  reason  for  declining  this  commission.  He  was 
occupied  by  a task  that  must  have  been  extremely  gratifying  to  a man 
who,  on  looking  back  through  almost  the  whole  of  the  century,  could 
not  feel  that  he  had  been  treated  by  his  country  according  to  his  deserts. 
Mr.  Corcoran  of  Washington  having  great  confidence  in  the  taste  of 
Mr.  Wm.  T.  Walters,  and  wishing  to  have  the  benefit  of  that  taste  in 
fitting  with  works  of  art  the  superb  building  which  is  now  a monu- 
ment to  his  memory,  made  him  chairman  of  the  committee  to  select 
exhibits.  In  that  capacity  Mr.  Walters  called  on  Barye  in  1873  and 
after  a pleasant  conversation  remarked : 

‘Monsieur  Barye,  I come  to  make  you  a proposition.  I come  to  com- 
mission you  to  supply  the  Corcoran  Gallery  at  Washington  with  one 
specimen  of  every  bronze  you  have  designed  throughout  your  life.’ 

This  speech,  remarked  Mr.  Walters,  to  whom  I am  indebted  for  the 
anecdote,  produced  the  liveliest  effect  on  the  staid  countenance  of  Barye. 
His  eyes  filled  with  tears  and  he  spoke  with  difficulty  : 

‘Ah,  Monsieur  Walters ! My  own  country  has  never  done  anything 
like  that  for  me  ! ’ 


115 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


So  it  was  that  the  Corcoran  Gallery  at  one  time  possessed  the  fullest 
collection  of  bronzes  by  the  master  in  America  and  probably  in  the 
world,  though  many  of  the  smaller  pieces  have  been  lost  since  then  by 
theft,  from  which  the  custodians  of  the  gallery  could  not  protect  objects 
that  could  be  slipped  into  a good-sized  pocket.  The  losses  in  this  way 
became  so  serious  that  holes  were  drilled  in  the  metal  stands  of  the 
figures  and  they  were  bolted  to  the  shelves  on  which  they  were  displayed. 
But  even  so  the  passion  for  owning  a bronze,  though  pilfered,  was  so 
great  that  they  were  sometimes  wrenched  from  the  shelf  and  carried  off. 
The  most  singular  and  discreditable  part  of  this  is,  that  the  thieves  were 
persons  of  outward  respectability  who  did  not  steal  from  poverty,  or  to 
sell  the  bronze  again,  but  from  a desire  to  own  it.  They  were  intelligent 
and  up  to  a certain  point  cultivated  persons,  perhaps  in  some  instances 
afflicted  with  hereditary  thievishness  which  in  the  case  of  respectable 
persons  is  dignified  with  a Greek  name  and  called  kleptomania.  Barye’s 
bronzes,  in  fact,  were  as  difficult  to  keep  as  the  rare  old  books  which 
have  tempted  scholars  from  the  straight  road. 

Barye  set  himself  to  do  justice  to  this  magnificent  commission  before 
the  weakness  of  old  age  overtook  him,  for  he  was  then  already  seventy- 
seven.  He  managed  to  send  to  the  Corcoran  Gallery  no  less  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty  bronzes  before  the  grim  spectre  which  he  had 
suggested  so  many  times  in  his  conflicts  of  animals  and  men  came  to 
his  bedside  and  bade  him  submit  to  the  inexorable  law  of  which  he 
had  been  the  curious  and  sombre  poet. 

About  this  time,  whilst  he  was  confined  to  the  house  by  an  illness,  his 
wife  essayed  to  interest  him  by  chatting  about  his  works  as  she  dusted 
the  bronzes  in  the  little  workshop.  ‘ You  should  cut  the  names  on  these 
groups  clearer’  she  remarked  ‘ when  you  feel  better.’ 

Barye  lifted  his  head  from  his  hand  and  said  : 

‘ Within  twenty  years,  my  dear,  people  will  be  studying  my  signature 
with  a magnifying  glass.’ 


116 


GROWLING  WOLF  WALKING  (RousaiiAU's) 


THE  DEATH  OF  BAEYE 


II 

One  by  one  his  friends  had  been  falling,  and  in  1875  the  sculptor  found 
that  little  band  in  Barbizon  strangely  shrunk.  Corot  was  about  to  die, 
and  Millet  was  ill.  Rousseau,  for  whom  he  had  finished  with  loving 
care  a wonderful  specimen  of  the  G-rowling  Wolf  which  is  now  in  the 
Walters  collection,  labelling  it  ‘A  l’Ami  Rousseau,  Son  Admirateur  A. 
L.  Barye  ’ — the  great  landscape  painter  Rousseau  had  brought  his 
uneventful  yet  tragic  life  to  a close  twelve  years  before.  Like  him  Barye 
was  a Parisian  who  rarely  left  Paris  and  never  Prance.  Like  Corot  he 
suffered  years  of  eclipse  only  to  be  hailed  at  the  end  of  his  life  as  in  cer- 
tain lines  the  greatest  artist  ever  produced  by  France.  Like  Millet  he 
was  the  unobtrusive  silent  champion  of  a race,  not  of  men,  but  of 
the  dumb  animals  which  have  suffered  tortures  beyond  the  estimate  of 
man’s  brain  because  man  has  kept  them  too  low  and  far  away  from  him- 
self. And,  like  Millet  also,  he  found  the  United  States  full  of  admirers. 
Like  Diaz  again  he  was  a colorist  though  he  wrought  in  patinas, 
whether  frosted  with  silver  like  that  on  the  Growling  Wolf,  or  red  as 
copper  like  that  on  the  Asian  Elephant  Walking,  or  lovely  olive  green 
such  as  one  sees  on  some  of  the  Walking  Tigers  or  the  Panther  Pulling 
Down  a Stag.  For  these  men  the  year  1875  was  fateful,  as  if  they  could 
survive  no  longer  the  disasters  of  1870  which  had  cut  so  deeply  into  the 
souls  of  some  of  them,  notably  of  Millet.  In  June  there  was  no  hope, 
and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  25th  Bai'ye  breathed  his  last. 

Although  his  reputation,  waxing  with  his  honors  and  the  decline  of 
his  creative  ability,  brought  more  ease  to  his  latter  years,  Barye  died  a 
poor  man,  a much  poorer  man  for  instance  than  Millet.  He  had  two 
daughters  by  his  first  wife.  Portraits  of  them  exist  in  Paris  and  are 
among  the  happiest  of  his  works  in  water-colors.  By  his  second  wife  he 
had  eight  children,  and  as  it  seems  fated  that  in  so  large  a family  there 
must  always  be  black  sheep,  so  in  Barye’s  there  was  one  who  tried 
cruelly  the  kindness  of  the  sculptor. 


117 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


To  utter  bronzes  with  the  name  of  the  artist  affixed  is  a kind  of 
forgery  much  worse  in  its  effects  than  the  ordinary  forgery  of  a check, 
because  it  makes  very  nervous  the  buyers  who  learn  of  the  fact  that  such 
bronzes  exist.  Barye  was  indeed  pursued  through  life  by  imitators 
and  falsifiers  who  knew  much  better  than  he  the  art  of  selling.  Whilst 
he  lived  there  were  men  base  enough  to  issue  bronzes  from  models  by 
him  which  they  secured  in  one  way  or  another,  sometimes  through  sales 
at  critical  moments  of  Barye’s  financial  career,  sometimes  by  thoroughly 
illegal  means.  Wretched  copies  were  at  one  time  sold  in  New  York 
but  the  demand  was  too  small  from  the  ignorant  and  the  connoisseurs 
knew  their  Paris  too  well  to  be  taken  in  very  often. 

Yet  it  is  not  in  the  past  alone  that  danger  existed.  Ungenuine  Barye 
bronzes,  in  the  sense  that  they  are  offered  as  works  which  passed  his 
own  stern  censorship,  yet  are  in  fact  modern  casts,  can  be  found  in  more 
than  one  place  in  Paris.  Sometimes  the  seller  is  honestly  taken  in  him- 
self, or  he  is  truthful  enough  to  acknowledge  that  the  bronze  is  new  but 
taken  from  a genuine  model  once  in  Barye’s  shop.  But  without  the  ad- 
vice of  an  expert  like  Mr.  Lucas  of  Paris  it  is  unwise  to  buy  Barye  ‘ old 
br'onzes7  in  France  at  present.  Better  invest  in  the  Barbedienne  repro- 
ductions of  which  especially  the  earlier  pieces  are  excellent  up  to  a 
certain  point  and  reasonable  in  price. 

Barye  died  too  early  to  feel  the  gratification  of  knowing  that  five  of 
his  finest  works  had  been  erected  in  a city  by  the  sea  far  across  the 
Atlantic.  But  he  did  know  that  Americans  were  the  most  appreciative  and 
steady  customers  for  his  smaller  bronzes  and  he  had  the  pleasure  of 
watching  the  growth  of  at  least  two  great  collections  of  such  of  his 
woi’ks  as  were  not  too  bulky  for  convenient  shipment,  namely  the  Cor- 
coran Gallery  in  Washington  and  that  of  Mr.  Walters  in  Baltimore. 
He  knew  also  that  a number  of  gentlemen  of  New  York  and  Boston 
were  gathering  collections  of  his  bronzes  and  water-colors.  Yet  he 
died  poor  in  a small  dingy  house  on  the  Quai  des  Celestins  where 
the  statuettes  were  by  no  means  confined  to  the  little  shop  in  the  front 
room,  but  pervaded  more  or  less  the  whole  house. 


118 


NO.  55. 

MEDIEVAL  PEASANT,  (from  Bear-bttwt) 
Height  ]2  inches 


THE  WORKINGMEN  AT  HIS  FUNERAL 


III 

In  France  a certain  ceremony  at  funerals  is  obligatory,  however 
humble  a man’s  circumstances  may  be,  provided  the  dead  was  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  In  this  ornamental  fraternity  Barye  was  an  officer 
and  his  funeral  was  therefore  graced  by  an  escort  of  soldiers.  He  was 
also  a member  of  the  Institute  and  had  been  a Professor  at  the  Jardin 
des  Plantes.  The  Bcole  des  Beaux  Arts  was  likewise  represented  and 
several  foreign  admirers  of  Barye,  hearing  of  the  ceremony,  among 
them  Mr.  S.  P.  Avery  of  New  York,  were  sufficiently  interested  to  form 
part  of  the  procession. 

At  the  house  some  very  distinguished  artists  made  their  appearance, 
such  as  Meissonier,  Heroine,  Carolus  Duran  and  Bonnat,  and  were  not 
backward  in  praise  of  the  sculptor  whose  worth  each  one  knew  well. 
Was  not  Bonnat  the  owner  of  various  groups  by  Barye?  And  did  not 
Heroine  come  to  the  sculptor  for  a lion  fit  to  stand  in  the  arena  of 
Rome?  But  these  might  have  come  to  the  funeral  of  any  distinguished 
artist  of  their  acquaintance.  There  were  other  mourners  on  the  Quai 
des  Celestins  that  day. 

The  French  workingman  was  there  in  his  blouse,  but  in  scattered 
groups.  He  did  not  make  his  appearance  in  force  until  the  march  to 
the  grave  was  taken  up.  Then  the  blouses  began  to  issue  from  work- 
shops and  factories  until  it  was  plain  to  the  world  that  somebody 
more  than  commonly  dear  to  the  artisan  world  of  Paris  was  passing 
to  his  last  rest.  The  artists  conducted  Barye  but  the  artisans  fol- 
lowed. They  knew  that  in  him  the  highest  rank  of  the  artistic  career 
had  been  entered  by  way  of  the  jeweler’s  bench  and  the  foundry.  It 
is  more  than  likely  they  knew  that  his  unaided  genius  had  conquered 
a place  for  him  in  two  worlds  which  are  not  always  of  the  same 
opinion ; namely  in  the  highest  world  of  society  as  well  as  that  of 
the  artists.  For  they  could  not  but  remember  that  Barye  had  the 
privilege  of  knowing  intimately  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  whose  unlikeness 


119 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


to  his  father  Louis  Philippe,  whose  soldierly,  generous  nature  and 
especially  whose  untimely  death  before  he  had  a chance  to  rule,  ideal- 
ized his  memory  in  their  thought.  They  knew  of  course  that  Barye  was 
well  thought  of  under  the  Napoleonic  revival  of  1852.  But  they  were 
also  certain  that  as  in  the  origin  he  had  sprung  from  the  people,  so  to 
the  last  he  had  remained  a people’s,  without  ever  becoming  a popular, 
man.  His  head  had  never  been  turned  by  honors  and  favors  from  the 
great.  Always  under  his  somewhat  melancholy  and  reserved  manner 
was  felt  the  sturdy  manhood  of  a character  that  knew  its  limits  and 
its  path. 

In  October  of  1875  there  was  an  exhibition  of  Barye  bronzes  and 
water-colors  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts,  and  people  who  went  there 
out  of  curiosity  were  astonished  at  the  fecundity  of  Barye’s  genius,  not 
to  speak  of  the  quantity  of  works,  completed  and  incomplete,  in  bronze, 
terra-cotta,  plaster,  stone,  oils,  water-colors  and  crayon.  Three  eques- 
trian statuettes  in  wax  were  shown  which  did  not  make  a reappearance 
at  the  exhibition  this  spring  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts,  viz : St. 
George  and  the  Dragon,  La  Renommee,  and  Julius  Csesar.  There  were 
also  the  plaster  cast  touched  with  wax  of  a Python  Crushing  a Gnu  as 
well  as  a Nereid  Arranging  Her  Necklace,  a bronze  now  in  the  possession 
of  Monsieur  Vial.  Among  the  other  objects  was  a guepard,  or  small 
wild-cat  of  India  (Felis  jubata)  and  a Chimaera  in  wax,  now  owned  by 
Monsieur  Vial. 

There  also  appeared  the  dreadful  little  group  which  may  be  seen  in  the 
artotype,  a Horseman  of  Africa  Surprised  by  a Python,  in  the  plaster 
model  touched  up  with  wax.  This  is  now  in  Monsieur  Barbedienne’s 
large  collection  of  Barye  objects.  A detail  of  some  importance  is  not 
shown  in  the  illustration  to  account  for  the  position  of  the  horse.  The 
snake  has  taken  a loop  round  the  stump  of  a tree  and  crushes  horse 
and  horseman  against  the  stump  on  the  other  side  of  the  group.  The 
attack  has  been  so  sudden  that  the  horseman  is  seized  by  the  throat 
before  he  can  either  slip  from  the  saddle  or  use  his  weapons.  The  scene 
is  one  that  appeals  to  every  age.  Although  the  books  in  which  such 


120 


PYTHON  CRUSHING  AFRICAN  HORSEMAN 


SALE  AT  THE  HOTEL  DEODOT 


adventures  are  told  are  now  prepared  chiefly  for  boys,  who  have  the 
hunger  for  curious  animals  and  strange  adventures  with  beasts  that 
adults  are  supposed  to  outgrow,  yet  it  may  be  safely  said  that  no  one 
can  regard  this  battle  without  some  emotion,  even  if  it  be  one  of  unmiti- 
gated horror.  Who  shall  blame  the  person  who  turns  away  from  it  with 
a shudder  ? The  man  who  could  model  such  terrible  things  had  in  him 
the  equality  that  made  Dante  while  still  in  life  an  object  of  no  little 
terror  to  the  populace.  It  is  to  such  groups  as  this  that  we  may  turn  in 
order  to  account  for  the  various  stories  regarding  Barye  which  give  the 
impression  that  his  was  a morose  and  forbidding  nature. 

Amoug  the  articles  left  by  Barye  in  his  studio  were  plaster  models  for 
the  four  great  beast  conflicts  in  stone  at  the  Chateau  d’Eau  in  Marseilles. 
A sketch  in  terra  cotta  of  a Bear  Overthrowing  a Buck  (fallow  deer)  is 
now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Deloye  who  also  owns  a terra  cotta  sketch 
of  a Jaguar  Overthrowing  an  Antelope.  These  were  Barye’s  first  ideas 
for  the  groups  at  Marseilles,  but  he  concluded  in  the  end  to  have  two 
lions  and  two  tigers  with  different  hoofed  animals  for  their  prey.  Mr. 
Theodore  Kane  Gibbs  perhaps  has  the  Jaguar  Overthrowing  an  Ante- 
lope, carved  half  the  size  of  life  in  a very  hard  stone.  Mr.  J.  F.  Sutton 
has  a large  bronze  of  this  same  group  and  the  Walters  Gallery  another 
produced  by  the  galvano-plastic  process.  The  stone  group  appears  to 
have  been  made  between  1868  and  1875,  the  period  in  which  Barye 
fashioned  in  hard  stone  for  the  Comte  de  Nicolai  his  favorite  grey- 
hound Tom. 

An  article  in  the  Gazette  des  Beaux  Arts  by  Monsieur  Genevay  was 
the  beginning  of  that  movement  for  a monument  to  Barye  of  which  this 
work  is  part.  It  was  most  appreciative  and  made  readers  aware  of 
the  loss  France  suffered  in  the  death  of  this  quiet  and  unpretentious 
statuary.  The  exhibition  was  followed  by  a sale  at  the  Hotel  Drouot 
which  surprised  everyone,  not  at  all  because  of  the  high  prices  that 
were  paid  but  of  the  apathy  of  the  public.  Barye  when  living  was  pat- 
ronized by  comparatively  few  people ; when  dead  he  did  not  enjoy 
that  sudden  popularity  among  the  buyers  of  art  objects  and  bric-a-brac 

16 


121 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


which  often  comes  like  a smile  of  irony  to  close  the  career  of  much 
smaller  men.  So  indifferent  was  the  public  that  it  was  almost  like  a 
charity  when  M.  Barbedienne  bought  in  the  greater  part  of  his  models 
and  rarer  pieces,  although  it  must  have  been  plain  enough  that  such 
works  could  be  made  immensely  profitable  with  time  in  experienced 
hands,  a forecast  that  has  been  abundantly  justified  since.  The  reason 
for  this  apathy  is  worth  a little  consideration. 

IY 

At  the  opening  of  Barye’s  career  I reviewed  some  of  the  obstacles  that 
rose  before  him  on  the  way  he  trod,  obstacles  that  had  their  origin  in 
religious  ideas,  obstacles  springing  from  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
earth  and  its  inhabitants  whether  human  or  bestial.  During  the  half 
century  that  lies  between  1825  and  1875  many  of  these  stumbling-blocks 
were  removed  by  the  progress  of  science,  and  Barye  himself  did  some- 
thing to  affect  the  same  result.  In  his  own  field,  by  his  own  studies, 
which  were  indeed  based  on  science  but  did  not  appeal  obviously  to 
scientific  minds  nor  indeed  suggest  science  to  those  who  were  influenced 
by  his  creations,  he  helped  men  to  a wider  and  fairer  view  of  animated 
beings  on  earth,  seizing  this  one  on  the  side  of  simple  curiosity,  that 
one  through  his  faculty  of  perceiving  a beauty  in  unusual  things  not 
commonly  treated  in  the  arts,  and  a third  by  the  mere  technical  ex- 
cellence of  his  touch  as  a modeler  and  bronze  founder. 

But  a statue  or  group  admired  when  of  large  size  and  in  the  open 
air  may  not  please  so  much  if  it  be  a statuette  that  holds  its  place  on  the 
mantel-board  or  the  writing-desk.  In  the  home  the  subjects  that  seem 
most  appropriate  are  gentle  figures  in  oils,  water-colors,  marble,  ivory 
or  bronze  which  do  not  suggest  thoughts  of  bloodshed  and  cruelty. 
Children  might  perhaps  learn  to  be  cruel,  many  a parent  has  thought, 
if  they  saw  constantly  before  their  eyes  combats  and  carnage,  even  if 
only  between  wild  beasts.  The  sports  of  the  arena  in  Koine,  the  bull- 
fights of  Spain,  the  bear-baitings  of  our  immediate  ancestors  of  northern 

122 


Heig' 


HIS  WORKS  DISTASTEFUL  TO  WOMEN 


Europe  are  supposed  to  have  been  a harm  to  public  morals  by  accustom- 
ing the  people  from  infancy  to  the  idea  of  bloodshed. 

Now  the  illustrations  in  this  book  are  enough  to  show  what  a proces- 
sion of  frightful  shapes  passed  beneath  the  quiet  strong  hands  of  Antoine 
Louis  Barye  during  that  half-century  so  recently  elapsed  ! Many  a man 
who  knew  well  how  beautiful  his  bronzes  were  must  have  hesitated 
before  bringing  them  into  his  home,  fearing  lest  his  children  might 
acquire  some  uncanny  taste  for  blood  by  seeing  these  tigers  devouring 
the  innocent  croppers  of  the  grass,  elephants  transfixing  tigers  with  their 
tusks,  pythons  crunching  life  and  shape  out  of  crocodiles,  or  jaguars  gloat- 
ing over  their  newly-slain  prey.  Nay,  he  may  have  feared  that  the  child 
unborn  might  suffer  irretrievable  harm  through  the  eyes  of  its  mother 
if  there  should  be  any  substratum  of  fact  in  the  fancies  on  that  head 
which  the  ancients  believed  in  all  their  fullness  and  the  moderns  them- 
selves are  slow  to  class  among  superstitions.  Granted  therefore  that  the 
present  age  has  become  too  enlightened  to  oppose  the  making  of  such 
sanguinary  works  of  art,  there  remains  the  practical  certainty  with 
respect  to  a large  body  of  men  capable  of  enjoying  the  marvelous  genius 
of  Barye  that  his  bronzes  were  in  large  part  banished  their  homes. 

But  when  I say  men  I am  only  speaking  of  not  quite  half  the  com- 
munity of  those  whose  wealth  and  education  permit  them  to  acquire 
luxuries  like  bronzes  of  this  kind.  The  larger  half  of  that  com- 
munity consists  of  women.  It  will  hardly  be  denied  that  there  is  need 
of  much  more  cultivation  in  the  fine  arts,  more  study  and  reading,  on 
the  part  of  a woman  to  fit  her  to  appreciate  the  terrible  groups  by 
Barye  than  are  necessary  to  a man.  She  has  to  overcome,  besides  her 
greater  sensitiveness  to  the  horrible,  her  naturally  stronger  repugnance 
to  scenes  of  death.  Man  is  the  physically  stronger  person  in  whom  the 
instinct  of  battle  is  bred.  The  sight  of  a dog-fight  or  cock-fight  is  not 
pleasing  to  women,  but  the  best  of  men  must  have  felt,  perhaps  with  a 
touch  of  shame,  that  such  a scene  awakes  their  curiosity  to  see  which 
will  win  — who  knows?  stirs  an  obscure  feeling,  a glow,  a longing  to 
be  of  the  battle  ! 


LIFE  OF  BAKYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


When  therefore  a man  admires  combats  modeled  by  Barye  it  does 
not  follow  that  woman  must.  On  tbe  contrary  the  chances  are  that 
the  average  woman  who  screams  if  she  sees  an  innocent  little  snake  the 
length  of  her  arm  will  feel  the  most  violent  aversion  to  such  works 
of  art.  And  she  will  be  just  as  right  and  normal  in  so  doing  as  the  man 
is  when  he  experiences  a certain  glow  of  pleasure  at  a sight  that  makes 
her  shudder. 

Here  is  the  place  to  call  attention  to  a singular  fact  which  rarely 
escapes  the  person  who  examines  the  old  catalogues  of  Barye  and 
reviews  large  collections  of  his  bronzes.  Along  with  Barye’s  strongly 
masculine  nature  (if  it  be  masculine  to  be  stern,  reserved  and  silent,  to 
suffer  without  murmuring  and  pursue  steadfastly  an  aim  across  all 
obstacles)  along  with  a nature  that  at  least  can  hardly  be  called  feminine, 
went  a predilection  for  the  male  in  all  his  statuary.  This  was  most 
obvious  in  his  animal  groups.  He  modeled,  it  is  true,  hinds  and  does. 
Along  with  a little  bronze  of  a moufflon  ram  goes  an  ewe.  There  are  two 
small  statuettes  of  lionesses  walking  which  vary  slightly  in  the  shape  of 
their  heads  and  ears.  But  these  are  exceptions  to  the  grand  rule  that 
consciously  or  unconsciously  Barye  modeled  the  male  in  preference  to 
the  female,  and  so  consistently  did  he  do  this  throughout  his  life  that  it 
seems  intentional.  How  otherwise  did  he  escape  from  the  mare  and 
the  cow,  the  ewe  of  the  common  sheep  and  the  females  of  various  breeds 
of  dogs  which  offer  considerable  differences  from  their  males  in  shape, 
size  and  disposition  of  coat? 

And  yet  when  he  did  model  the  female  he  was  not  weak  or  indifferent. 
The  lionesses  just  mentioned  are  superb  pieces  notwithstanding  their 
little  size,  having  to  the  full  that  look  of  haughty  and  lonely  grandeur 
which  is  found  in  the  lion.  But  his  figures  of  women  are  still  more 
remarkable  for  their  beauty.  While  they  are  few  compared  with  the 
figures  of  men,  they  have  a certain  grandeur.  The  equestrian  statu- 
ette called  L’Amazone,  a lady  in  the  riding  costume  of  1830  or  there- 
abouts, is  a marvel  of  balance.  She  sits  her  horse  magnificently.  None 
of  the  painters  of  that  period  who  have  tried  their  hand  at  the  same 


124 


NO.  39. 

PANTHER.  OF  TUNIS  COUCHANT 
Height  3^  inches 


A SCULP TOE  OF  THE  MALE 


subject  approach  Barye  either  as  regards  the  horse  or  with  respect 
to  the  lady’s  seat  in  her  saddle.  The  Angelica  on  the  Hippogriff,  the 
three  goddesses  and  three  Graces  on  the  candelabra  belonging  to  that 
group  and  the  figures  of  the  Hours  on  the  great  clock  at  the  Hotel 
Pereire  testify  how  firmly  and  powerfully,  yet  with  what  delicacy 
Barye  could  mold  an  image  in  the  form  of  woman.  This  however 
makes  it  all  the  more  odd  that  he  should  have  employed  his  talents  so 
rarely  in  fashioning  the  female  of  men  and  beasts. 


y 

As  a matter  of  fact  when  he  died  Barye  had  not  made  a conquest  of 
the  more  important  half  of  the  persons  to  whom  he  might  look  for 
appreciation  and  patronage.  The  size  of  his  works  fits  them  for  the 
adornment  of  the  house.  The  husband  who  admired  a Barye  bronze 
of  conflict  between  animals  could  not  very  well  introduce  it  into  the 
home  against  the  swift  condemnation  of  the  wife.  Those  who  did  had 
to  support  the  constant  protest  of  their  spouses.  In  the  end  the  woman 
was  likely  to  win  and  cause  the  banishment  of  the  piece  to  the  garret 
or  the  bric-a-brac  shop.  The  curious  difference  on  the  subject  of  these 
groups  by  no  means  ended  soon  after  Barye’s  death  when  he  became 
even  more  famous  than  during  life.  It  did  not  end  then,  and  has  not 
ended  now. 

In  all  probability  it  never  will  end.  Each  year  the  circle  of  women 
whose  knowledge  of  art  and  wider  education  permits  them  to  over- 
come their  inborn  dislike  of  such  things  increases.  Each  year  more 
women  as  well  as  men  learn  to  distinguish  the  art  of  a given  work 
from  the  bald  fact  it  happens  to  set  forth.  But  it  is  too  much  to  expect 
that  such  instincts  as  the  hatred  of  the  feminine  half  of  humanity  for 
works  of  arts  that  suggest  dreadful  scenes  from  which  they  would  fly  if 
they  saw  them  realized  will  ever  be  sufficiently  overborne  by  the  artistic 
merits  of  such  objects  to  make  them  love  and  cherish  Barye’s  bronzes 
of  conflict.  Perhaps  it  is  better  they  should  not.  What  can  be  more 


125 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


disillusioning  than  to  see  a beautiful  Spaniard  applauding  the  sickening 
sights  of  a bull-fight?  And  yet  it  must  be  conceded  that  these  very 
women  who  look  on  unconcerned  when  a horse  is  gored  make  good 
mothers,  sisters  and  wives. 

But  the  digression  has  taken  us  far  from  the  event  in  question,  the 
sale  of  Barye’s  works  at  the  Hotel  Drouot  in  1875.  It  accounts  for  the 
lack  of  popularity  of  his  bronzes  which,  by  no  fault  of  his  own  but  of 
his  countrymen  in  power,  were  of  a size  that  fitted  them  only  for  in- 
teriors, whereas  they  should  have  been  prepared  for  great  monuments. 
His  life  proper  ends  with  this  sale,  for  then  the  great  bulk  of  his  studio 
properties,  models  in  bronze,  wax,  terra-cotta  and  plaster,  his  oils, 
water-colors  and  drawings  were  dispersed  and  his  fame  then  entered  on 
another  phase,  one  that  was  wider  and  more  soundly  based  and  one  of 
which  the  eventual  limits  are  hard  to  determine. 

One  may  ask  what  would  have  been  the  present  state  of  Barye’s  fame, 
had  Americans  never  interested  themselves  in  his  works  and  brought 
the  wider  circle  of  French  amateurs  and  dealers  in  objects  of  art  to  a re- 
alization of  his  worth.  It  may  well  be  questioned  whether  the  small  and 
devoted  band  in  France  who  were  the  first  to  appreciate  Barye  and 
trumpet  his  praises  could  ever  have  overcome  the  dead  weight  of  popular 
indifference  had  they  not  been  assisted  from  the  other  side  of  the  At- 
lantic. 

For  many  years  it  was  supposed  in  France  that  anything  was 
good  enough  for  Americans  and  in  consequence  of  that  supposition  it 
was  believed  that  painters  and  some  few  sculptors  got  rid  of  their  infe- 
rior wares  to  rich  citizens  of  the  United  States.  One  fine  day  somebody 
had  the  hardihood  to  remark  that  the  Yankees  were  not  so  stupid  as  they 
seemed  and  were  even  taking  away  masterpieces.  The  statement  was 
scoffed  at  for  a while,  until  one  writer  after  another  corroborated  the 
report,  and  some  even  made  use  of  intemperate  language  as  is  the  wont 
of  certain  Parisian  journalists  when  foreigners  are  concerned,  taking 
Americans  to  task  for  draining  France  of  the  finest  canvases  of  the 
times. 


No.  33.  Lion  Meeting  Python  Snake  (water-color).  Walters  Collection. 

liy2  x 18^  inches. 


GOOD  OF  AMERICAN  COMPETITION 


However  one  may  smile  at  the  folly  of  imputing  in  Americans  such 
a compliment  to  the  French  as  a crime,  the  fact  remains  that  the  large 
prices  for  bronzes  by  Barye  and  paintings  by  Delacroix,  Millet,  Rous- 
seau, Corot  and  others  of  the  Barbizon  school,  have  had  a powerful 
effect  in  France.  They  have  increased  the  average  Frenchman’s  respect 
for  his  own  artists  and  caused  him  to  pay  gladly  such  prices  for  works 
formerly  neglected  as  he  never  would  have  believed  possible.  An 
extreme  instance  was  the  price  Monsieur  Proust  wished  to  pay  for 
the  Angelas  by  Millet  at  the  sale  of  M.  Secretan’s  gallery ; another  was 
the  great  price  the  government  did  pay  for  the  Deer  Covert  by  Courbet. 
If  it  be  true  that  Americans  have  ‘ruined  the  market’,  to  adopt  the 
language  of  the  trade  in  art  objects,  it  is  equally  true  that  only  since 
the  French  have  been  forced  to  pay  such  prices  has  public  appreciation 
befallen  these  masters  in  the  measure  they  deserve. 

There  is  much  talk  about  the  absurdity  of  prices  for  the  works  of 
Millet,  Rousseau,  Barye  and  their  contemporaries  which  is  fallacious 
because  based  on  an  incomplete  view  of  the  situation.  Putting  aside 
the  gigantic  sums  paid  in  consequence  of  rivalry  at  auctions,  the 
amounts  paid  at  private  sales  between  cautious  negotiators  appear 
fabulous,  especially  when  they  are  contrasted  with  the  payments  in  the 
first  instance  made  to  the  artist  for  the  very  same  object. 

But  are  they  absurd,  as  commonly  one  hears  them  called "?  It  is  forgot 
that  large  sums  of  money  are  paid  for  canvases  into  which  the  smallest 
amount  of  talent  enters,  canvases  that  come  from  the  studios  of  men 
who  have  been  fashioned  into  skilled  painters  without  possessing  a 
gleam  of  genius  or  a throb  of  passion,  or  at  any  rate  unable  notwith- 
standing their  perfected  hand  to  communicate  passion,  feeling,  emotion 
intellectual  or  emotion  psychical  to  the  onlooker.  Works  of  this  kind 
are  and  must  always  remain  those  which  regulate  the  general  prices  of 
works  of  art  in  their  own  field.  They  are  very  high,  far  too  high,  if  we 
are  to  believe  the  stern  critics  of  mediocrities.  But  they  establish  a stan- 
dard of  price  just  as  much  as  the  bulk  of  wheat,  corn  and  beef  estab- 
lishes in  each  case  the  general  price  for  the  necessities  of  life. 


LIFE  OF  BAKYE  THE  SCDLPTOE 


But  now  comes  tlie  rare  artist  who  has  something  in  his  work  that  no 
Parisian  training  can  supply  if  the  genius  is  not  there  inborn  and  the 
circumstances  under  which  he  grows  up  are  not  fitted  to  ripen  that 
genius.  Only  while  his  merits  are  understood  by  a comparative  few 
can  his  pictures  be  sold  below  or  on  the  same  level  with  the  clever  work 
of  mediocrities.  As  soon  as  the  secret  is  in  the  possession  of  the  wide 
world  of  buyers  the  price  of  his  statuettes,  paintings,  water-colors  or 
etchings  tends  upwards  toward  those  ‘ridiculous’  sums  against  which 
we  hear  artists  as  well  as  amateurs  declaim. 

Let  them  call  such  sums  ridiculous  if  they  will.  All  I wish  to  say  is 
that  it  is  unphilosophical  to  regard  them  in  that  way,  and  even  material. 
There  is  no  price  which  is  ridiculous  for  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  the 
epics  of  Dante,  the  compositions  of  Beethoven,  the  paintings  of  Rem- 
brandt. There  is  an  angry  note  in  comments  on  the  great  prices  paid 
at  present  for  works  by  the  band  of  artists  who  have  made  France 
illustrious  during  the  last  half  century.  All  that  is  wrong.  One  should 
glory  in  the  fact  that  men  are  willing  to  pay  a great  fortune  for  a canvas 
a few  inches  square.  There  is  no  parallel  between  facts  like  these  and 
the  squandering  by  Romans  of  the  value  of  huge  properties  on  a banquet 
or  one  dish  for  a meal.  The  true  parallel  is  with  popular  movements 
in  ancient  Greece  and  mediaeval  Italy  when  the  advent  of  a work  of 
art  was  the  signal  for  a popular  procession  and  ceremonies  as  im- 
portant as  if  a conqueror  returned  in  triumph. 

Nor  need  we  grieve  that  Barye  got  for  his  bronzes  insignificant 
sums  compared  with  those  now  asked  for  them.  We  should  feel  glad 
that  the  number  of  persons  who  recognize  their  beauty  has  increased  so 
much  that  he  obtains  now  that  fame  for  which  he  labored.  Barye  longed 
for  greater  recognition  when  alive,  but  he  also  deliberately  sacrificed 
a thousand  chances  for  that  recognition  in  order  that  his  fame  after 
death  should  be  greater.  Ilis  agony  when  creditors  seized  his  models, 
his  scrupulous  care  that  no  work  below  the  best  should  leave  the  shop, 
his  anxiety  that  a true  amateur  should  possess  the  finest  results  of  his 
genius  and  labor  are  warrant  in  saying  this,  not  as  a guess,  but  as  an 


128 


SEATED  HARE 


♦ 


COLOSSAL  SCULPTURE  IN  LITTLE  THINGS 


indubitable  fact.  And  there  is  this  point  in  which  the  present  day 
differs  widely  from  former  epochs  when  there  was  some  truth  in  the 
complaint  that  men  of  giant  fortunes  absorbed  the  great  products  of 
sculptor  and  painter. 

Nowadays  fortunes  are  divided  among  heirs,  and  even  before  the 
millionaire  dies  the  chances  are  great  that  his  works  of  art  are  placed 
in  some  gallery  where  they  are  cared  for  as  they  could  not  be  in  ordinary 
hands,  where  they  are  protected  from  the  dangers  of  fire  and  water  and 
the  wear  and  tear  of  transfer  from  owner  to  owner,  and  whither  the 
public  can  come  to  examine  them  at  their  leisure.  We  must  not  be 
disgusted  at  the  wide  difference  between  the  price  of  a Bai'ye  bronze 
in  1875  and  in  1890.  On  the  contrary  it  is  a subject  for  congratulation 
that  amateurs  should  think  it  worth  their  thousands  to  dispute  a work 
of  art  among  them.  We  have  plenty  of  colossal  monuments  costing 
fortunes  that  have  no  spark  of  that  genius  we  see  in  the  minim  bronze 
of  a Seated  Hare  with  ears  erect  stamped  here  on  the  back  of  the 
cover  and  found  elsewhere  in  artot.ype.  The  architects  of  colossi  are 
very  apt  to  be  pigmies  in  art.  But  Antoine  Louis  Barye  when  he 
modeled  a pigmy  animal  was  nothing  less  than  an  artistic  giant. 


7 


129 


Chapter  Six 


I 

E PERE  COROT  was  born  the  same  year  as  Barye  and  oddly 
enough  died  at  the  very  same  age.  Jean  Francois  Millet  also 
died  in  1875,  so  that  France  was  bereft  at  once  of  three  artists 
whose  like  we  shall  probably  never  see  again.  Daubigny  followed  in 
1878  but  Jules  Dupre  was  living  at  the  opening  of  the  present  year. 

Of  all  the  painters  and  sculptors  whom  Barye  out-lived  there  was 
none  who  can  be  said  to  have  influenced  his  career  as  an  artist,  except 
one  who  died  as  early  in  the  century  as  1826,  namely  Gericault  the 
painter  of  the  Raft  of  the  Medusa,  a man  who  died  at  the  early  age  of 
thirty-three,  but  left  behind  him  a most  vivid  impression  on  French 
sculpture  as  well  as  on  Fx-ench  painting.  He  painted  lions  and  tigers 
well,  and  his  horses  are  often  superior  to  those  of  Delacroix.  Gei'icault 
was  alternately  soldier  and  artist  and  always  a man  of  ill-regulated  life. 
But  while  Barye  was  in  his  formative  epoch  this  brilliant  meteor  rose  on 
his  horizon  and  captivated  his  senses. 

Another  who  may  have  moved  him  for  a time  was  Auguste  Preault, 
a sculptor  several  years  his  junior  who  made  his  appearance  and 


130 


A.  L.  BARYE.  Portrait  bt  BONNAT 


PREAULT  AS  AN  INFLUENCE 


a sensation  at  the  Salon  at  nearly  the  same  period.  It  was  in  1833 
that  Preault  surprised  the  dignified  sculptors  of  the  old  school  with 
bas-reliefs  and  figures  that  were  prophetic  of  Les  Miserables  by  Victor 
Hugo,  such  as  the  figure  of  a young  girl  dying  in  the  arms  of  her 
mother,  and  a colossal  bas-relief  called  Famine.  Preault  in  his  early 
period  seems  to  have  been  the  Rodin  of  his  day  — unless  it  may 
be  more  logical  to  say  that  Rodin  is  the  Preault  of  the  present  time 
It  was  he  who  remarked  concerning  the  men  opposed  to  his  views  of 
the  proper  scope  of  sculpture:  ‘Academicians  are  not  artists;  they 

are  college  ushers  who  have  been  promoted  in  rank.’  In  1834  this 
tumultuous  young  artist  created  a yet  greater  sensation  with  a medal  of 
an  old  Roman  Emperor  of  most  revolting  countenance,  and  a bronze 
bas-relief  called  Slaughter.  The  latter  was  one  jumbled  mass  of  men, 
women  and  children  destroying  each  other,  and  caused  many  persons  to 
think  it  the  work  of  a madman.  Preault  did  some  good  and  many  poor 
statues  later  in  the  century,  but  his  entrance  of  the  Salon  as  a sensational 
sculptor  of  the  first  rank  is  mentioned  merely  to  show  that  the  terrible 
bronzes  by  Barye  did  not  stand  absolutely  alone.  Preault  is  now  so 
forgotten  that  his  existence  as  a sculptor  is  ignored  in  Siret’s  dic- 
tionary of  artists.  In  1824,  nine  or  ten  years  earlier,  Delacroix  had 
made  his  mark  with  a Massacre  of  Scio,  and  in  1831,  the  year  of 
Barye’s  first  triumph,  Delacroix  showed  amongst  other  things  a 
painting  of  tigers. 

So  Barye  was  not  separated  entirely  from  the  rest  of  the  outside 
world  either  by  the  subjects  he  chose,  or  the  dramatic  feeling  he  showed 
in  his  animal  groups.  The  difference  between  him  and  artists  like 
Delacroix  and  Preault  was  that  he  controlled  better  his  hand  and 
studied  more  patiently  the  preliminaries  to  his  groups.  The  result  is 
that  while  Preault  is  as  good  as  dead  to  the  world  of  amateurs  and 
Delacroix  is  rather  losing  ground  than  otherwise,  Barye  is  continually 
growing  in  esteem  and  bids  fair  to  take  a position  as  regards  Delacroix 
for  example  which  would  have  been  hardly  considered  possible  by  that 
ambitious  and  hard-working  genius. 


131 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


It  is  more  than  likely  that  to  Barye  his  early  friend  Delacroix  was  at 
once  a riddle  and  an  object  of  veneration.  Delacroix  wrapped  himself 
so  closely  in  his  work  that  he  kept  away  from  acquaintances  and 
friends  of  youth,  only  frequenting  certain  aristocratic  houses  in  the  best 
quarters  of  Paris  where  his  polished  manners  and  cleverness  made  him 
most  welcome.  To  be  a colorist  at  that  period  was  to  be  the  bugbear  of 
Academicians.  Delacroix  was  a man  of  icy  manners  in  society  but  a 
person  full  of  fire  and  passion  with  regard  to  his  work.  The  opposition 
of  the  conservatives  in  art  merely  deepened  his  anger  and  hardened  his 
resolve  to  beat  them  sooner  or  later.  Not  only  did  he  succeed  in 
painting  a great  many  ceilings  and  walls  in  the  teeth  of  competition  and 
intrigue,  but  he  fought  his  way  up  through  the  steps  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor  and  into  the  august  company  of  the  Immortals.  He  was  the 
hardest  of  all  combatants  to  beat,  a man  who  kept  his  temper  outwardly 
and  never  showed  discouragement  under  temporary  defeat.  When  at 
last  he  wrested  open  the  doors  of  the  Institute  the  members  of  that  body 
are  said  to  have  been  not  a little  astonished  to  find  him  a delightful 
comrade  who  was  polished  naturally  and  in  every  way  able  to  hold  his 
own  and  contribute  to  their  enjoyment. 

Very  different  was  the  entrance  of  Barye.  He  was  never  a sociable  man 
in  the  superficial  way,  and  he  gained  his  seat  too  late  in  life  to  change 
in  any  degree  the  habit  of  reserve  and  silence  that  characterized  him. 

It  was  not  till  five  years  after  his  death  that  M.  Bonnat  undertook 
for  Mr.  Walters  a portrait  of  Barye  in  oils.  It  is  seldom  that  this 
celebrated  painter  of  portraits  who  rarely,  if  ever,  makes  an  unsuccessful 
likeness  and  never  a weak  one  is  able  to  surpass  his  ordinary  level  so 
well  as  in  this  case.  The  artotype  gives  at  least  the  firm,  intelligent 
expression  of  Barye  if  it  can  not  reproduce  the  values  of  the  paint. 
Barye  is  remembered  by  Jules  Claretie  in  his  Peintres  et  Sculpteurs 
Contemporains  who  gives  a portrait  etched  by  Massard  which  appeared 
in  1882. 

It  was  not  till  the  end  of  1885  and  the  beginning  of  1886  that  an 
honor  befell  the  memory  of  Barye  such  as  lacks  a parallel  in  modern 

132 


No.  82.  Peace,  Group  on  Louvre. 
Stone. 


t 


I 


' 


MONUMENTS  TO  BARYE’S  FAME 


times.  One  has  to  go  back  to  the  period  of  Greek  art  of  the  grand  epoch 
and  of  Greek  colonies  to  meet  its  like,  for  in  that  age  a distant  city 
would  adorn  itself  and  hold  festival  in  order  to  greet  the  coming  of 
a masterpiece  by  a sculptor  of  fame,  or  the  monument  erected  to  some 
great  soldier  or  artist  who  lived  and  died  in  the  motherland  which  had 
founded  the  city  in  question.  The  idea  of  traveling  to  America  would 
have  surprised  Barye  beyond  measure,  yet  America  has  given  him 
honors  which  France  hopes  at  this  late  day  to  rival. 

In  February  of  1880  the  city  of  Baltimore  was  enriched  with  no  less 
than  five  bronzes  of  large  size,  all  of  them  after  Barye’s  work.  As 
already  noted  they  were  the  gift  of 
Mr.  William  T.  Walters,  who  threw 
his  collections  of  paintings,  porcelains 
and  bi-onzes  open  to  the  public  and 
summoned  from  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia and  Washington  a number  of 
amateurs  to  rejoice  with  him  over 
the  American  monuments  to  Barye. 

In  his  very  interesting  life  of  Barye 
M.  Ai'sene  Alexandre  says : ‘It  is  to 
Baltimore  we  must  go  in  order  to  find 
a monument  worthy  of  the  artist.  To 
build  it  his  own  masterpieces  were 
enough,  those  which  we  neglect  on 
the  terrace  of  a public  garden,  or  at 
an  absurd  height  above  portals  where 
they  are  not  seen.  Thanks  to  the  gen- 
erous enthusiasm  of  Mr.  Walters,  a 
collector  of  the  finest  proofs  known,  the  Lion  in  Repose  and  the  four 
groups  of  the  Carrousel  Court  are  erected  on  one  of  the  squares  of 
Baltimore.  The  museum  of  Washington  is  equally  rich  in  Barye 
bronzes,  much  richer  than  our  national  museum  which  possesses  only 
two  works  by  him.’ 


Kenyon  iig,T- 

No.  81. 

War,  Group  on  Louvre. 
Stone. 


133 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


It  is  in  the  present  year,  however,  that  most  has  been  done  to  spread 
the  fame  of  Barye  about  the  world.  He  has  been  raised  in  France  to 
the  number  of  those  artists  who  are  thought  wmrthy  of  a place  in  the 
army  of  statues  that  people  the  city  on  the  Seine.  He  has  been  thought 
in  America  a proper  subject  for  one  of  those  movements  which  are  an 
honor  to  the  memory  of  any  man,  whether  the  financial  end  sought 
thereby  be  attained  or  not,  and  a movement  which  is  also  sure,  as  we 
shall  presently  note,  to  do  as  much  good  on  this  side  to  the  cause  of 
native  sculpture  as  it  will  prove  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  a 
graceful  offering  to  a sister  republic. 

II 

Admirers  of  Barye  in  France  conceived  the  idea  of  erecting  a monu- 
ment to  him  somewhere  in  Paris  and  that  idea  came  to  a tangible  result 
in  the  spring  of  the  present  year.  No  better  plan  was  outlined  than  a 
repetition  of  such  an  exhibition  of  works  by  Barye  as  occurred  just  after 
his  death  and  the  place  chosen  was  the  same,  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts. 
It  was  urged  that  the  Universal  Exposition  made  such  a design  perilous, 
because  all  attention  would  centre  on  the  Champs  de  Mars ; but  others 
held  that  among  the  floods  of  French  and  foreign  visitors  a certain 
number  would  remember  Barye,  and  that  even  a fraction  of  so  large  a 
crowd  would  serve  to  increase  the  fund.  The  exhibition  was  accord- 
ingly held,  and  so  far  as  first  proof  bronzes,  models  in  bronze,  clay, 
terra-cotta  and  wax  are  concerned  none  could  have  been  more  complete. 
Moreover  there  were  plaster  models  of  the  great  groups  in  stone  at 
Marseilles  and  a hundred  objects  treasured  by  Barye’s  children  and  his 
particular  friends  which  lend  so  much  interest  to  a showing  in  the 
native  place  of  an  artist.  Nevertheless  financially  speaking  the  exhi- 
bition was  a failure.  The  flood  of  visitors  set  so  powerfully  toward 
that  epitome  of  the  world,  the  city  reared  just  across  the  Seine  from  the 
Trocadero,  that  no  side  rills  found  their  way  to  the  Ecole  des  Beaux 
Arts.  Instead  of  adding  to  the  fund  there  was  a deficit  from  the  exlii- 


134 


BULL  ON  THE  DEFENSIVE 


THE  BAEYE  EXHIBITION  IN  NEW  YORK 


bition  of  Barye’s  works.  Thus  by  reason  of  the  overwhelming  interest 
of  the  great  fair  the  small  side  show  was  forgotten. 

Meantime  the  United  States  had  taken  so  many  of  the  bronzes,  oils 
and  water-colors  of  Barye  that  a suggestion  for  an  exhibition  in  New 
York,  at  the  same  time  with  that  in  Paris,  was  very  natural.  It  led  to 
the  formation  of  the  Barye  Monument  Association,  a list  of  whose  offi- 
cers will  be  found  in  the  appendix,  and  the  decision  that  an  exhibition 
of  works  by  A.  L.  Barye  owned  in  the  United  States  should  be  held  in 
autumn  at  New  York  to  collect  funds  for  the  monument  to  be  erected  at 
Paris.  When  the  Paris  exhibition  closed  the  plaster  cast  of  the  Lion 
Crushing  a Serpent  shown  there  became  available,  and  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  Mr.  George  A.  Lucas,  the  amateur  of  Barye  bronzes,  this  was  pre- 
sented by  the  French  Government  to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  New 
York,  with  the  understanding  that  it  should  be  exhibited  first  by  the 
Barye  Monument  Association  in  autumn.  The  exhibition  was  duly 
opened  on  the  15th  of  the  present  month  (November)  at  the  American 
Art  Galleries  on  Madison  Square. 

It  has  sustained  comparisons  very  well  with  the  objects  shown  in  the 
spring  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts.  In  water-colors  by  Barye  it  is 
stronger.  There  are  a score  of  bronzes  here  which  were  not  represented 
in  Paris,  while  about  half  that  number  constitute  the  specimens  shown 
there  which  are  not  to  be  found  here.  No  nlaster  models  of  the  big 
groups  in  stone  have  reached  America,  though  they  were  shown  in 
Paris,  and  no  such  array  of  models  in  wax  as  was  a distinguishing 
feature  at  the  Lcole.  But  there  is  everything  necessary  to  make  an 
exhaustive  study  of  Barye  and  discover  how  great  was  the  loss  to  the 
world  when  his  powerful  and  fertile  brain  refused  to  guide  his  hand 
through  the  clay  as  it  used  to  in  the  three  decades  1830  to  1800.  Sur- 
prising above  all  is  the  thought  that  America  should  have  appreciated 
Barye  so  early  and  to  such  excellent  effect  as  to  have  his  works  in 
bi’onze  almost  complete,  although  the  taste  for  ornaments  of  the  kind 
can  be  called  in  no  sense  national,  and  though  the  subjects  of  the 
bronzes  are  such  as  to  make  them  particularly  unattractive  to  the  aver- 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


age  American.  By  themselves  these  groups  prove  that  there  exists 
scattered  through  communities  which  at  present  are  anything  but 
educated  to  high  artistic  planes  a great  number  of  connoisseurs  of 
fine  quality  who  possess  the  true  enthusiasm  of  the  collector  of  works 
of  art. 

Concerning  the  masterpieces  of  painting  by  Jean  Francois  Millet, 
Eugene  Delacroix,  Theodore  Rousseau,  Corot,  C.  J.  Daubigny,  Troyon, 
Jules  Dupre,  G-ericault,  Decamps  and  Diaz  de  la  Pena  this  is  not  the 
occasion  to  speak.  It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  ignore  the  presence 
of  the  better  part  of  these  comrades  and  fellow-strivers  of  Barye,  that 
part  of  them  which  still  lives  on  earth,  because  through  these  pictures 
their  influence  for  good  extends  beyond  the  tomb  and  helps  to  build 
the  monument  to  their  friend.  Were  they  alive,  how  gladly  the  greater 
number  of  them  would  contribute  their  pictures  to  an  exhibition  in  such 
a cause ! And  now  that  they  are  dead  the  owners  of  their  master- 
pieces feel  the  poetic  fitness  of  such  a bringing  together  of  works  by  the 
immortal  band  who  lived  sparely  and  fought  shoulder  to  shoulder 
through  the  Sacred  Springtide  of  1830.  They  are  merely  the  custodians 
of  these  works  and  may  well  feel  satisfied  to  employ  them  as  their 
authors  would  have  under  similar  circumstances. 

There  is  yet  another  satisfaction  to  be  felt  in  the  exhibition  of  all 
these  products  of  illustrious  artists  of  France  far  away  from  the  scenes 
where  they  were  created — and  a satisfaction  that  may  occur  to  every 
American,  whether  he  knows  a Barye  bronze  from  a fire-dog  or  a 
Millet  landscape  from  a scene-painting.  It  consists  in  the  fact  that 
these  men  were  citizens  of  a land  which  upholds  in  Europe  the  great 
principles  for  which  our  forefathers  in  America  struggled.  In  this 
exhibition  of  French  masters  a republic  more  than  one  hundred  in 
age  honors  the  republic  which  has  lived  for  twenty  years  in  seas  far 
stormier  than  any  we  know  in  this  part  of  the  earth. 


13G 


No.  47.  General  Bonaparte. 
Bronze.  Height,  14  inches. 


VALUE  OF  BARYE  TO  SCULPTURE 


III 

The  exhibition  of  Barye’s  bronzes  in  New  York  might  easily  be  taken 
for  the  whim  of  collectors  of  rare  pieces  of  bric-a-brac  by  those  who  have 
not  studied,  and  also  by  those  who  understand  perfectly  their  beauty  as 
works  of  art  but  have  never  considered  the  relation  they  bear  to 
sculpture  in  a much  wider  sense.  From  one  point  of  view  sculpture 
that  aims  merely  at  the  adornment  of  interiors  may  rightfully  be 
considered  to  stand  on  a lower  plane  than  that  which  is  intended  for  the 
open  air.  Barye  himself  felt  deeply  the  implied  censure  of  his  own 
genius  because  his  works  were  rarely  permitted  to  address  the  moving 
world  of  the  streets  and  parks.  But  we  must  always  keep  well  in 
mind  the  axiom  that  art  does  not  reside  in  magnitude.  Barye’s  longing 
to  erect  monuments  of  the  largest  size  must  not  be  interpreted  to  mean 
that  he  undervalued  his  little  bronzes.  The  care  and  genius  displayed 
in  them  attest  that  sufficiently.  Though  in  the  direction  of  large  works 
he  was  limited  by  want  of  appreciation,  what  he  accomplished  on  the 
scale  suitable  for  the  household  has  already  had  wide-spreading  results 
and  will  in  future  exercise  a yet  greater  influence. 

In  this  country  even  more  than  in  France  there  is  need  of  a change  in 
the  view  taken  of  the  scope  of  sculpture.  We  have  been  accepting  this 
branch  of  the  fine  arts  from  Europe,  but  from  the  wrong  end.  We  have 
been  aiming  at  the  production  of  sculptors  of  the  grand  before  growing 
sculptors  of  the  little,  demanding  from  our  artists  large  monuments 
before  we  have  learned  by  constant  contact  with  small  sculptures  in  our 
households  to  understand  what  is  really  great  in  the  art.  It  is  exactly 
as  if  we  exacted  from  our  painters  the  grandest  of  mural  paintings 
before  we  educated  ourselves  to  appreciate  such  things  by  living  with 
easel  work  on  our  chamber  walls.  This  has  not  been  the  process  by 
which  we  have  evolved  painters  who  are  fit  to  take  their  place  with  the 
best.  These  have  been  gradually  brought  forth  by  the  agency  of  a 
vast  number  of  persons  too  modest  to  call  themselves  connoisseurs  or 


8 


137 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


amateurs,  who  have  bought  etching  and  water-color  and  small  painting 
as  the  taste  grew  and  spread.  The  next  step  is  now  before  us  and  out- 
work men  are  prepared  for  it.  If  the  national  government  or  a munici- 
pality, if  a corporation  or  a rich  citizen,  ask  now  for  mural  work  on  a 
magnificent  scale,  the  artists  are  ready  to  respond. 

How  different  is  the  case  of  sculpture ! Our  exhibitions  are  devoted 
almost  exclusively  to  the  work  of  painters,  etchers  and  engravers.  The 
paucity  of  sculpture  is  too  plain  to  be  overlooked  by  the  most  careless 
observer.  We  are  calling  for  battle  monuments  and  elaborate  statues 
to  distinguished  men,  for  pompous  memorials  to  the  dead  in  cemeteries, 
for  sculpture  to  decorate  the  facades  of  enormous  buildings.  And  when 
the  sculptors  do  not  supply  us  with  statuary  that  equals  in  genius  the 
best  that  France  can  evolve,  we  have  an  implied  censure  ready  for  them, 
a censure  that  necessarily  penetrates  beyond  the  artistic  guild  and  re- 
turns upon  ourselves,  impugning  the  nation  itself  as  one  deficient  in 
those  flowers  of  genius  whereby  countries  will  be  judged  in  the  future. 
That  blame  falls  rightly  on  us  as  a nation,  but  not  for  the  reasons  that 
are  superficially  assumed.  The  fault  does  not  lie  in  a lack  of  artistic 
force  in  our  mixed  race.  The  fault  lies  in  our  crudeness,  our  ignorance. 
We  have  gone  the  wrong  way  about  to  attain  that  distinction  in  the  arts 
which  can  only  be  won  by  an  enlightened  encouragement  of  sculpture. 

We  treat  art  as  we  treat  religion.  For  six  days  it  is  forgotten  and  on 
the  seventh  it  is  taken  up  with  an  effort.  Ai-t  like  religion  must  be 
lived  and  breathed. 

Barye’s  works  point  the  way.  Were  that  not  so,  certainly  this  book, 
a labor  of  love,  would  not  have  been  written,  and  in  all  probability 
the  exhibition  for  which  it  strives  to  serve  as  a memorial  would  never 
have  been  opened.  For  a group  of  collectors  to  work  as  faithfully  and 
offer  as  generously  the  contents  of  their  galleries  as  the  case  has  been, 
there  was  need  of  something  more  than  the  barren  honor  of  being 
exhibitors,  more  indeed  than  the  praiseworthy  endeavor  to  erect  a 
monument  to  Antoine  Louis  Barye.  The  mainspring  of  the  exhibition 
is  the  good  that  it  may  do  the  public  by  affording  occasion  for  thousands 


138 


VALUE  OF  BARYE  TO  AMATEURS 


of  men  and  women  to  realize  what  an  important  part  sculpture  on  a 
small  scale,  so  far  as  mere  size  is  concerned,  ought  to  play  in  our  daily 
life.  When  that  idea  is  thoroughly  grasped  the  impulse  to  obtain  tine 
specimens  of  bronzes  by  Barye,  or  Cain,  or  Mene  will  be  naturally 
transferred  into  the  desire  to  own  sculptures  by  native  woi’kmen.  Then 
for  the  first  time  the  art  will  begin  to  flourish  from  a healthy,  sturdy 
root  on  American  soil. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  examine  the  bronze,  brass  and  iron  work  of 
our  large  buildings  to  see  how  low  is  the  average  of  artistic  force  in  the 
men  who  have  modeled  the  designs.  The  spread  of  a taste  for  statuettes 
in  the  metals  will  effect  a transformation  downward  and  upward.  It 
will  make  intolerable  the  barbarous  shapes  of  gas-fixtures,  lamps, 
grates,  stoves,  heaters  and  other  necessities  of  modern  interiors  that  are 
now  treated  in  a spirit  mistaken  for  art,  but  which  would  be  far  better 
if  they  had  been  left  absolutely  bare  of  ornament  and  bald.  It  will 
educate  the  average  man  who  thinks  at  all  about  such  matters  to  that 
point  when  he  will  not  permit  the  erection  on  public  places  of  such 
statues  as  disfigure  all  our  cities,  New  York  perhaps  more  than  any  other. 

There  is  warrant  for  believing  that  this  is  not  too  much  to  expect  from 
a popular  encouragement  of  sculpture  for  the  household  and  the  fireside. 
We  have  only  to  reflect  on  the  condition  of  the  United  States  twenty 
years  ago  with  respect  to  painting.  Marvels  have  been  done  in  the  last 
score  of  years  to  educate  the  average  man  of  mind  with  regard  to 
pictures.  What  reason  is  there  to  despair  of  the  republic  so  far  as 
sculpture  is  concerned!  After  our  collectors  of  foreign  paintings  had 
trained  their  eyes  sufficiently  a certain  standard  of  excellence  was 
indicated  toward  which  it  was  necessary  that  native  painters  should 
approach  at  pains  of  being  ignored  should  they  fail  to  do  so.  Our 
painters  accepted  the  conditions  and  every  year  show  more  plainly  that 
they  are  worthy  rivals  of  the  very  highest  masters  Europe  can  now  show 
at  work.  Is  it  too  much  to  claim  that  as  soon  as  our  collectors  have 
learned  to  understand  the  charm  of  statuary  for  their  homes  by  studying 
the  work  of  men  like  Barye  they  will  form  in  like  manner  a standard  of 


139 


LIFE  OF  BA RYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


taste  for  such  work,  and  ask  of  native  sculptors  that  they  shall  approach 
it?  And  if  this  takes  place  on  a generous  scale,  as  things  commonly  do 
in  our  land,  will  not  our  sculptors  respond  as  quickly  and  with  as  good 
results  as  the  painters  ? 

The  line  of  policy  here  marked  out,  to  date  from  this  exhibition  of  the 
works  of  Barye,  has  the  merit  of  following  a tendency  already  apparent. 
More  and  more  every  year  the  taste  for  sculpture  is  springing  up.  At 
Boston,  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  at  Washington,  in 
ten  cities  further  to  the  west,  the  most  visible  signs  are  offered  by  the 
public  collections  of  casts  from  the  antique.  These  indicate  a groping 
toward  a revival  of  sculpture  in  the  United  States.  The  Barye 
exhibition  ought  to  do  much  in  the  way  of  clearing  the  minds  of 
amateurs  on  this  subject.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  such  vast  collections 
of  casts  as  that  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  under  the  Willard  bequest. 
Casts  of  beautiful  small  sculptures  should  be  available  in  all  our  cities 
for  the  adornment  of  interiors,  the  relief  of  external  walls  where  pro- 
tection exists  from  rain  and  snow,  the  decoration  of  offices  private 
and  public.  Taught  by  daily  companionship  with  these  cheap  sub- 
stitutes for  the  great  creations  of  the  sculptors  of  the  past,  the  people 
will  of  necessity  advance  to  a demand  for  sculpture  representing  what 
is  about  them,  their  relatives,  friends  and  pets.  Once  the  taste  is  formed, 
a Barye,  if  such  a genius  is  vouchsafed  us,  will  not  need  to  consume  his 
heart  in  bitterness  because  the  public  does  not  care  for  him  and  his 
creations. 


IY 

Much  more  is  to  be  said  concerning  Antoine  Louis  Barye,  but  the 
rule  that  he  who  says  everything  becomes  a bore  remains  today  as  true 
as  when  it  was  uttered  by  the  sly-faced  philosopher  of  Ferney.  There  is 
something  pretentious  in  describing,  explaining,  commenting  on  works 
of  art  when  they  are  presented  by  wood-cuts  and  artotypes  as  fully  as 
they  are  here.  Not  that  the  artotype  can  do  full  justice  to  a Barye 
bronze,  let  the  photographer  be  ever  so  skillful,  and  the  printer  mix  his 


140 


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FINE  POINTS  IN  BAEYE  BRONZES 


inks  with  an  eye  ever  so  keen  for  shades  of  green,  brown  and  gold. 
The  variety  of  a bronze  which  has  been  treated  by  a master  like  Barye 
can  not  be  translated  in  colors;  only  an  approximation  is  possible. 
This  is  particularly  the  case  when  it  has  been  in  the  possession  of  a 
lover  of  the  arts,  like  Mr.  George  A.  Lucas,  to  take  but  one  instance. 
For  the  caresses  that  such  a collector  lavishes  on  a bit  that  pleases  him, 
especially  the  rubbings  here  to  bring  out  a golden  high-light  on  a 
prominent  muscle,  the  delicate  brushings  there  to  take  dust  out  of  a 
cranny  without  injury  to  the  layer  of  green  patina,  produce  an  object 
that  needs  the  hand  of  the  most  skillful  painter  of  still  life  to  render 
with  exactness.  Nor  can  any  illustration  give  details  which  make  all 
the  difference  between  a statuette  by  Barye  and  one  by  another  hand  on 
the  same  theme. 

The  large  complicated  groups  fai*e  perhaps  the  worst ; but  in  such 
an  apparently  simple  thing  as  the  statuette  of  General  Bonaparte, 
how  is  an  illustration  to  record  the  fact  that  the  feet  of  Napoleon 
are  not  on  a line,  one  leg  being  slightly  farther  forward  in  the  sad- 
dle? And  yet  it  is  on  just  such  little  points  as  this  that  the  beauty 
of  the  statuette  depends.  For  one  sees  at  a glance  that  the  rider  is 
at  ease  in  the  saddle;  that  in  fact  he  is  taking  certain  liberties  with 
the  correct  seat  of  a soldier  on  horseback,  and  the  impression  that 
results  is  one  of  ease  and  mastery.  One  wood-cut  cannot  tell  this. 
Nor  would  it  be  possible  to  show  the  beauty  of  another  little  eques- 
trian statuette,  that  called  L’Amazone,  being  a well-grown  lady  in  the 
riding  costume  of  1830.  The  way  she  sits  that  horse!  It  is  as  easy 
as  walking,  and  yet  a riding-master  might  find  fault  with  it  in  a fair 
beginner  of  the  art  of  equestration.  The  whole  figure  of  the  woman  is 
seen  under  the  strong  cloth.  The  stiff  pomp  of  Gaston  de  Foix,  clad  in 
iron,  astride  his  high  saddle  and  the  heavy  horse  that  such  fashions  in 
war-clothes  demanded,  is  much  more  easily  given  by  an  illustration.  But 
how  can  the  convolutions  of  the  Python  Surprising  a Horseman  be 
properly  seen,  unless  the  object  itself  is  before  one’s  eyes?  Such  as  they 
are,  these  pictures  nevertheless  afford  a better  explanation  than  words 


141 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


can  give.  May  the  reader  study  them  well  and  thank  me  for  curbing 
the  wish  to  expatiate  on  their  various  charms ! 

Chenavard  the  composer  of  cartoons  for  the  Pantheon  that  treat  of 
the  world  from  Noah  to  the  men  of  A.  D.  4200  has  left  an  orphic 
utterance  as  follows:  La  Jiaine  est  la  vertu  des  brutes  — a remark  that 

will  not  lose  profundity  on  consideration.  Its  inner  truth  is  particularly 
clear  when  we  stand  before  a large  gathering  of  bronzes  by  Barye  of 
animals  in  conflict,  and  keep  in  mind  the  theory  that  every  beast  of  the 
field,  fish  of  the  waters,  bird  of  the  airs,  insect,  tree  and  herb  is  what  it 
is  as  the  result  of  unnumbered  ages  of  conflict.  ‘ Hatred  is  the  virtue  of 
brutes’  also  implies  that  what  is  a virtue  in  them  is  a vice  in  us. 
Without  that  passion  in  beasts  which  assumes  in  our  eyes  the  appear- 
ance of  hatred  there  would  be  no  evolution  of  horny  plates  on  the 
alligator,  of  long  sharp  claws  on  the  jaguar,  of  the  stately  head  of  horns 
on  the  stag  and  the  shining  tusks  on  elephant  and  boar.  Under  the 
grim  mask  of  death  that  keeps  all  wild  beasts  and  most  wild  men 
in  a constant  state  of  nerve-tension  blooms  the  rose  of  progress  and 
perfection,  as  we  see  on  the  quaint  old  tombstones  in  Haarlem 
Cathedral  the  blades  of  wheat  growing  up  through  an  empty  skull. 

This  fearful  aud  yet  fascinating  department  of  thought  Barye  made 
his  own  and  was  the  first  to  introduce  into  the  arts.  Let  us  thank  him 
that  he  did  not  make  the  vulgar  error  of  innovators  and  push  realism 
to  extremes.  He  enjoyed  the  terrible  as  do  a vast  number  of  people 
who  have  been  taught  to  ask  from  art  only  the  pretty  and  the  con- 
ventional. He  saw  beauty  in  the  terrible  and  perhaps  felt  that  as  an 
artist  it  was  enough  if  he  reflected  in  bronze  that  beauty  without 
troubling  himself  about  a deeper  meaning.  But  the  meaning  was  there 
and  for  his  own  pleasure  and  that  of  a very  few  others  he  thus  increased 
tenfold  the  value  of  that  which  would  have  still  been  marvelous 
without  it. 

Chenavard  was  probably  not  prepared  to  spoil  his  epigram  by  extend- 
ing it  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  in  man  also  hatred  is  a virtue,  yet  one  of 
the  awkward  consequences  of  accepting  evolutionary  theories  lies  just 


142 


DEVELOPMENT  THROUGH  THE  PASSIONS 


there.  These  passions  which  the  wise  of  all  ages  have  reprobated  and 
religions  denounced  appear  by  analogy  with  the  animal  world  to  have 
done  more  than  anything  else  to  develop  humanity.  If  we  accept  that 
as  ti-ue  we  have  to  reconsider  not  only  our  relation  to  animals  in  general 
but  the  very  basal  ideas  of  morals  and  society.  To  meet  this  difficulty 
the  champions  of  evolution  maintain  that  the  human  race,  although 
animal  in  origin,  became  by  the  development  of  the  brain  and  hand  so 
completely  different  from  beasts  that  the  analogies  can  no  longer  hold 
between  the  two.  The  lowest  men  who  live  and  the  lowest  whose  bones 
can  be  found  in  the  earth  are  separated  by  a wide  gulf  from  the  highest 
of  animals.  If  that  be  so,  then  Chenavard’s  maxim  may  stand  for  the 
brutes  but  need  not  apply  to  man. 

Whichever  way  evolution  be  taken,  whether  we  push  the  analogy  so 
far  as  to  include  man,  or  stop  in  time  to  afford  a chance  for  moralists  to 
believe  in  evolution  yet  not  surrender  entirely  their  old  position,  there 
is  this  to  comfort  one  in  regarding  Barye’s  works  as  so  many  scenes 
from  the  tragedy  of  the  Struggle  for  Existence.  We  can  be  pretty 
certain  that  the  stag  beneath  the  claws  of  a panther,  the  horse  on  whose 
back  a tiger  has  sprung,  the  doe  enveloped  in  the  folds  of  an  anaconda, 
do  not  suffer  half  as  much  as  we  are  prone  to  think.  They  are  occupied 
with  efforts  to  escape  until  a certain  moment  when  they  appear  to  lose 
sensibility.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  carnivora  do  not  suffer  a 
hundred  fold  in  captivity  what  they  would  if  engaged  in  a hopeless  com- 
bat with  a stronger  beast.  The  pleasure  of  battle  would  deaden  them 
to  anguish,  just  as  a bull-dog  does  not  know  he  is  being  torn.  When  a 
vital  part  is  reached  the  wild  beast  feels  nothing  more.  Human  beings 
on  the  contrary  suffer  before  and  during  a struggle  owing  to  their 
imagination.  If  we  keep  this  in  mind  we  can  regard  with  more  equa- 
nimity the  carnage  suggested  by  the  works  of  Barye,  for  they  represent 
struggles  which  are  by  no  means  as  terrible  to  the  participants  as  they 
appear.  At  the  same  time  this  need  not  deaden  us  to  the  necessity  of 
caring  for  animals  and  preserving  them  from  unnecessary  suffering,  for 
when  the  special  excitement  of  combat  or  struggle  with  an  ancestral  foe 


143 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


is  absent,  animals  suffer  in  all  probability  a good  deal  more  than  we  are 
disposed  to  believe,  because  of  their  limited  means  of  expression  and 
their  habit  of  agonizing  in  silence. 

Y 

Barye  presents  us,  to  conclude  this  long  disquisition,  with  a very 
remarkable  instance  of  moral  courage.  When  caste  was  much  more 
important  than  it  now  is  lie  never  tried  to  conceal  his  humble  position, 
as  it  appeared  in  men’s  eyes.  He  did  not  fail  to  sign  objects  that  were 
nothing  greater  than  paper-weights  and  decorations  for  clocks.  His 
work  as  a jeweler  caused  him,  like  Benvenuto  Cellini  in  1568,  to  become 
ardito  di  prendere  a ragionare  dell  ’ arte  del  oreficeria , though  he  kept  his 
processes  of  bronze  work  to  himself  instead  of  writing  them  down  like 
the  pugnacious  Florentine.  We  see  the  results  of  his  thought  in  his 
bronzes  but  have  no  word  from  him  how  he  obtained  such  colors  in  the 
bronze.  His  bent  was  toward  sculpture.  Cellini  in  his  eulogy  on  that 
art  states  that  paintings  often  live  only  a few  years,  while  sculpture  is 
as  it  were  eternal.  But  a natural  tendency  rather  than  arguments  like 
this  drove  Barye  to  larger  work.  He  has  the  credit  of  establishing 
again,  as  it  was  in  Greece,  and  in  Italy  during  the  Renaissance,  the  art  of 
sculpture  on  an  equal  footing  with  painting,  not  below  it  as  exemplified 
in  careless  decorative  pieces  for  the  household,  nor  above  it,  as  exempli- 
fied in  great  monuments,  but  hand  in  hand  with  painting  as  sculpture 
should  go.  With  such  a record  we  may  well  forget  the  hardships  and 
disappointments  of  his  career  and  fix  our  eyes  on  his  triumphs  and  his 
achievements,  feeling  happy  to  remember  that  he  lived  all  his  life  among 
great  souls  who  acknowledged  his  worth  and  that  his  country  did  much 
if  not  everything  to  honor  his  genius. 


DATES  RELATING  TO  A.  L.  BARYE 


A.  D. 

1791  The  painter  J.  L.  A.  T.  Gericault  bom  at  Rouen. 

1793  Lyons  partially  destroyed  by  the  army  of  the  Convention  from  Paris. 

Barye,  a silversmith  of  Lyons,  moves  to  Paris.  Marries  a daughter 
of  a lawyer  named  Claparede. 

1796  Sept.  24th — Antoine  Louis  Barye  born  at  Paris. 

The  painter  J.  B.  C.  Corot  born  at  Paris. 

1799  The  painter  Eugene  Delacroix  born  at  Paris. 

1803  The  painter  A.  J.  Decamps  born  at  Paris. 

1805  Barye’s  education  neglected. 

1808  P.  J.  Chenavard  born  at  Lyons. 

Diaz  de  la  Pena  the  painter  born  at  Bordeaux. 

1809  Auguste  Preault  the  sculptor  born  at  Paris. 

1810  Barye  apprenticed  to  Fourrier,  engraver  of  military  equipments. 

1812  A.  L.  Barye  drawn  as  conscript  and  placed  in  the  brigade  of  topo- 

graphical engineers,  map-maker  section. 

The  painters  Theodore  Rousseau  and  Jules  Dupr6  born  at  Paris  and 
Nantes. 

1813  Barye  transferred  to  sappers  and  miners. 

The  painter  Constant  Troyon  born  at  Sevres. 

1814  March.  The  army  leaves  Paris  suddenly  and  Antoine  Louis  returns 

home. 

Apprenticed  to  the  jeweler  Biennais,  makes  the  steel  dies  for  stamping 
repousse  work.  Member  of  the  National  Guard. 

1815  Jean  Francois  Millet  the  painter  born  at  Greville. 

Barye  finds  a sculptor  in  his  company  of  National  Guards. 


i9 


145 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


1816  Enters  atelier  of  the  sculptor  Baron  Bosio,  a favorite  of  Napoleon. 

1817  Enters  atelier  of  Baron  Gros  the  painter  without  leaving  Bosio. 

C.  F.  Daubigny  the  painter  born  at  Paris. 

1819  Permitted  to  compete  for  the  Prix  de  Rome  at  the  Salon  in  the  section 

of  medals.  Subject : Milo  of  Crotona  Devoured  by  Lion.  Prize  to 
Yatinelle.  Honorable  mention  to  Antoine  Louis  Barye. 

1820  Competes  in  the  section  of  sculpture.  Subject:  Cain  Hearing  the  Voice 

of  the  Almighty.  Prize  to  Jacquot. 

1821  Same  section.  Subject:  Alexander  Storming  the  Town  of  the  Indian 

Oxydrakae.  Prize  to  Lemaire. 

1822  Same  section.  Subject:  Joseph’s  Bloody  Garment  Shown  by  his  Brothers 

to  Jacob.  Prize  to  Seurre  fils. 

E.  Delacroix  shows  at  Salon  Dante  and  Virgil  in  Hell. 

1823  Same  section.  Subject  : Jason  Bearing  Off  the  Golden  Fleece.  No 

prize  awarded. 

Enters  workshop  of  Fauconnier,  jeweler  to  the  Duchesse  d’Angouleme, 
Rue  du  Bac. 

Barye  married  and  living  in  Passage  Ste.  Marie  near  his  workshop. 
Industrial  Exhibition.  Fauconnier’s  exhibit  contains  models  for 
making  figures  of  animals. 

1824  Not  permitted  to  compete  for  the  Prix  de  Rome. 

Delacroix  shows  in  the  Salon  his  Massacre  of  Scio. 

Barye  models  on  his  own  account  small  animals,  hunting  dogs,  bas- 
reliefs,  which  are  cast  by  Tamisier. 

1825  J.  L.  David  the  painter  dies  aged  77. 

Barye  attends  lectures  on  anatomy  at  the  Zoological  Gardens ; reads 
Cuvier,  Button,  Lacepode,  Lamarck.  Studies  archaeology  and  fre- 
quents museums. 

1826  Bas-reliefs : Eagle  Exulting  over  Dead  Chamois.  LaBimnergeyer  and 

Serpent.  Retriever  and  Duck. 

Gericault  the  painter  dies  aged  33. 

1827  Sends  to  Salon:  Bust  of  a Young  Man.  Bust  of  a Young  Woman. 

Medallions. 

Delacroix  the  painter  sends  to  Salon  pictures  of  English  and  Turkish 
horses. 

1828  Models  and  has  cast  small  pieces  : 

Stork,  Tortoises,  Stork  on  Tortoise,  Rabbit,  Hare. 

Elected  to  a dining  club  meeting  at  M5re  Saguet-Bourdon’s  at  the 
Barriere  du  Maine.  Members : Beranger,  Alexandre  Dumas,  Sainte 
Beuve,  Chenavard,  Abel  Hugo,  etc. 

1830  Tiger  Devouring  Antelope  or  Gazelle,  cast  in  bronze  by  the  Galvano 
Plastic  process. 


146 


APPENDIX 


1831  Bas-reliefs  in  bronze  signed  and  dated : 

Genet-cat  Dragging  a Bird. 

Panther  Walking.  Leopard  Walking. 

Virginia  Stag  llnnning,  antlered.  The  same  without  horns. 

Sent  to  Salon : 

Tiger  Devouring  a Gavial  (crocodile)  of  the  Ganges  which  won  a 
Second  Medal  and  was  bought  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  for 
the  Luxembourg ; now  at  Louvre. 

A Group  of  Animals. 

Bear,  a sketch  in  clay. 

Martyrdom  of  St.  Sebastian,  terra-cotta,  full-length. 

Delacroix  sends  to  Salon  a picture  of  two  tigers,  study. 

Barye  leaves  Fauconnier  the  jeweler. 

1832  Sent  to  Salon : 

Lion  Crushing  a Serpent,  plaster. 

Unique  bronze  of  same,  small,  given  to  the  Minister  of  Interior. 
Distinguished  by  the  Prince  Royal,  Duke  of  Orleans. 

1833  Government  buys  Lion  Crashing  a Serpent. 

A.  L.  Barye  made  chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

Aug.  Preault  the  sculptor  sends  to  Salon  Misery,  a young  girl  dying  in  her 
mother’s  arms.  Gilbert  Dying.  Famine,  colossal  bas-relief. 

Barye  sends  to  Salon  : 

Dead  Gazelle,  a plaster  study. 

Stag  Pulled  Down  by  two  Scotch  Hounds. 

Bear  Overthrown  by  Three  Mastiffs. 

Horse  Struck  by  Young  Lion,  plaster. 

North  American  and  Indian  Bears  Straggling. 

Bear  of  Alps. 

Asian  Elephant. 

Russian  Bear. 

Charles  VI  Frightened  in  the  Forest  of  Le  Mans. 

Horseman  of  the  NVth  Century  $ equestrian  statuette. 

Bust  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

Lion,  in  plaster. 

Medallions  in  a frame. 

1833  Sent  to  Salon  water-colors  : 

Two  Peruvian  Jaguars. 

Tiger  Devouring  Horse. 

Indian  Panther. 

Two  Cape  Lions. 

Two  Bengal  Tigers. 

Panther  of  Morocco. 


147 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


1834  Aug.  Preault  the  sculptor  sends  to  Salon : 

Medals:  Old  Roman  Emperor.  Young  Roman  Emperor. 

Bronze  bas-relief : Butchery. 

Barye  finishes  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans  the  following  groups,  to  stand  on 
an  epergne  or  surtout  de  table  designed  by  Chenavard  : 

Five  principal  groups : 

Hunt  of  the  Tiger  with  Elephant  (centrepiece). 

Hunt  of  the  Lion  with  Buffaloes  (long  piece). 

Hunt  of  the  Wild  Ox  (long  piece). 

Hunt  of  the  Bear  (round  piece). 

Hunt  of  the  Elk  (round  piece). 

Four  groups  of  Two  Animals  to  surround  the  Centrepiece. 

Eagle  and  Bouquetin. 

Serpent  with  Bison  or  Gnu. 

Lion  with  Boar. 

Leopard  with  Doe. 

These  nine  pieces  cast  by  the  wax  process  (a  cire  perdue)  by  Honore 
Gonon  and  his  two  sons. 

Duke  of  Orleans  asks  the  jury  of  the  Salon  (made  up  from  the  Institute) 
to  accept  these  pieces,  but  the  jury  refuses. 

The  Duke  appeals  to  Louis  Philippe  in  vain. 

Barye  sends  to  the  Salon  : 

Dead  Gazelle,  in  bronze. 

Horse  Surprised  by  Young  Lion,  in  bronze. 

Elk  Surprised  by  Lynx,  plaster. 

Walking  Elephant  (wax  process)  for  the  Duke  of  Nemours. 

Panther  and  Gazelle.  Bear,  bronze. 

Bear  in  his  Trough,  bronze,  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

Various  water-colors  of  animals. 

Barye  makes  an  etching  for  the  Musee  du  Salon  de  1834  of  A.  Dumas. 

1835  Salon  refuses  statues  of  Aug.  Preault. 

Baron  Gros  drowns  himself. 

Barye  sends  to  Salon : 

Lion  Holding  Guiba  Antelope. 

Makes  for  Lyons  Museum  : 

Tiger  Devouring  Virginia  Deer,  stone,  colossal. 

The  same,  bronze  reduction,  for  M.  Thiers. 

Honore  Gonon  and  sons  cast  the  Lion  Crushing  a Serpent  by  the  wax 
process.  Set  up  in  the  Avenue  des  Feuillants,  Tuileries. 

Thiers  suggests  that  Barye  shall  ornament  the  Place  de  la  Concorde 
with  groups  ; then  the  four  corners  of  the  Concorde  bridge ; then  gives 
but  does  not  confirm  an  order  for  a colossal  lion. 


148 


APPENDIX 


1835  Thiers  asks  Barye  for  a design  for  the  top  of  the  Arc  de  Triomphe,  Place 

de  l’Etoile. 

Barye  models  an  Eagle,  twenty  meters  from  tip  to  tip  of  wing,  alighting 
on  trophies  of  war.  Four  Rivers,  bound,  to  be  placed  at  the  four 
corners  of  the  attic. 

Design  rejected  for  diplomatic  reasons. 

1836  Walking  Lion. 

Walking  Tiger. 

Sends  to  Salon  various  small  bronzes  which  are  refused. 

Salon  accepts : 

Seated  Lion  (or  Lion  in  Repose),  plaster. 

Barye  casts  by  the  wax  process  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans : 

Elk  Surprised  by  Lynx ; unique  piece  given  by  the  Duke  to  Alex- 
andre Dumas. 

1837  Sends  nothing  to  Salon. 

L’Amazone  (Lady  on  Horse,  Costume  of  1830). 

Recumbent  Bear,  plaster  sketch. 

Lion  Devouring  Doe,  signed  and  dated,  bronze. 

Virginia  Deer  Scratching  its  Side,  signed  and  dated,  bronze. 

Bull  Pulled  Down  by  Tiger. 

Elephant  Crushing  Tiger,  bronze  for  the  Duke  de  Montpensier. 

1838  Sends  nothing  to  Salon. 

Stag  Listening,  fore-feet  together.  Signed  and  dated. 

General  Bonaparte,  equestrian  statuette. 

Receives  order  for  Walking  Lion,  bas-relief  on  column  of  July,  Place 
Bastille. 

1839  Borrows  money  to  set  up  a foundry  and  shop  for  statuettes  in  bronze. 
Models  in  plaster  Lion  for  J uly  Column  and  Head  of  Cock  for  angles  of  same. 
Charles  VII  the  Victorious,  equestrian  statuette. 

Gaston  de  Foix,  equestrian  statuette. 

Speared  Boar  with  mouth  open. 

Recumbent  Bull  Seized  by  Bear. 

Panther  with  Foot  on  Muntjac  Deer. 

1840  Python  Swallowing  Doe. 

Panther  of  Tunis  Recumbent,  signed  and  dated. 

Python  Crushing  Crocodile. 

Jaguar  Standing,  signed  and  dated. 

Duke  of  Orleans,  equestrian  statuette. 

Reclining  Fawn,  signed  and  dated. 

Reclining  Doe,  signed  and  dated. 

Roger  Bearing  Off  Angelica  on  the  Hippogriff,  bronze  for  the  Duke  of 
Montpensier. 


149 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


1840  Candelabra  for  the  same,  with  Venus,  Minerva  and  Juno,  Three  Graces, 

chimseras  and  masks  as  ornaments. 

1841  Sends  nothing  to  Salon. 

Begins  Theseus  Slaying  Minotaur. 

Bull  on  the  Defensive. 

Bull  Rampant. 

Sleeping  Fawn. 

Small  Seated  Lion  of  different  sizes. 

1842  Nothing  to  Salon. 

Foundry  and  shop  do  not  pay. 

Ape  Riding  Gnu. 

Reclining  Fawn  etched  by  Ch.  Jacque. 

1843  Nothing  to  Salon. 

Bear  Flying  from  three  Mastiffs.  (Part  of  Bear  Hunt.) 

1844  Nothing  to  Salon. 

Figure  from  Bear  Hunt,  a Huntsman  with  Quarterstaff,  also  called 
Mediaeval  Peasant. 

Barye  is  commended  by  Thore. 

1846  Shop  in  Rue  de  Boulogne,  Ghaussee  d’Antin. 

Begins  Lapith  Slaying  Centaur  (called  later  Theseus  Slaying  Bianor). 
Finishes  Theseus  Slaying  Minotaur  in  bronze,  and  offers  it  for  sale  at 
his  shop. 

1847  Furnishes  for  the  Pont  d’lena  seven  Eagles. 

Lion  Seated  (or  in  Repose,  begun  1836)  is  cast  in  bronze  for  the  Quay 
Gate  of  Louvre,  Pavilion  de  Flore,  and  placed  on  right  as  one  enters. 
Declines  to  make  a duplicate  for  opposite  jamb  of  gate  on  left. 

Reversed  duplicate  cast  and  set  up.  • 

Jaguar  Devouring  Agouti  (sketch  for  Jaguar  Devouring  Hare). 

1848  Made  by  Ledru  Rollin  Curator  of  Plaster  Casts  at  Louvre. 

Jaguar  Devouring  Hare  (now  in  Louvre). 

Finishes  Lapith  Slaying  Centaur. 

Trimolet  makes  pen  and  ink  portrait  of  Barye.  Engraved  by  Ville- 
minot. 

1849  Resides  in  Rue  Ste.  Anastase  in  the  Marais. 

1850  Jury  of  Salon  no  longer  taken  from  the  Institute  but  from  artists. 

Barye  Sends  to  Salon  (first  time  since  1836) : 

Theseus  Slaying  the  Centaur  Bianor  (the  same  as  Lapith  Slaying  a 
Centaur,  slightly  changed). 

Jaguar  Devouring  Hare  (plaster). 

Minister  of  Interior  buys  Theseus  Slaying  Bianor  ; cast  later  in  bronze ; 

sent  to  the  provincial  museum  at  Le  Puy. 

Resides  Rue  des  Fosses  St.  Victor. 


150 


APPENDIX 


1851  Sends  to  Salon : 

Theseus  Slaying  Minotaur  (begun  1841,  finished  1846). 

Gustave  Planche,  in  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  has  an  enthusiastic 
article  on  Barye ; urges  that  his  General  Bonaparte,  equestrian  statu- 
ette, be  erected  size  of  life  at  the  Invalides,  Napoleon’s  tomb. 

Resides  Rue  Montagne  Ste.  Genevieve. 

Receives  an  order  for  ninety-seven  Mascarons,  decorations  for  the  Pont 
Neuf. 

1852  The  sculptor  Pradier  dies. 

Louis  Napoleon  takes  the  throne. 

Barye  sends  to  Salon : 

Jaguar  Devouring  Hare,  in  bronze  (shown  1850  in  plaster). 

Minister  of  Interior  buys  it  for  the  Luxembourg  collection,  now  in  Louvre. 
Loses  Curatorship  of  Plaster  Casts  at  Louvre. 

1853  The  widowed  Duchess  of  Orleans  sells  the  Table  Ornaments  of  1834. 
Demidoff  pays  for  Hunt  of  Tiger  4100  francs. 

Demidoff  pays  for  Hunt  of  Bear  7100  francs. 

Lutteroth  pays  for  Hunt  of  Wild  Ox  4500  francs. 

Montessier  pays  for  Hunt  of  Lion  3000  francs. 

Montessier  pays  for  Hunt  of  Elk  4900  francs. 

Gambard  pays  for  Eagle  and  Bouquetin  1200  francs. 

Be  jot  pays  for  Leopard  and  Doe  900  francs. 

Hautpoeus  pays  for  Serpent  and  Gnu  950  francs. 

Hautpoeus  pays  for  Lion  and  Boar  1005  francs. 

1854  Lefuel  succeeding  Visconti  as  architect  of  the  Louvre  orders  of  Barye 

four  groups  to  decorate  inner  faQade  of  Louvre,  Com-  du  Carrousel. 
Barye  models  four  groups  of  man,  boy  and  beast,  viz. : 

Peace  with  Bull. 

War  with  Alert  Horse. 

Force  with  Somnolent  Lion. 

Order  with  Subdued  Tiger. 

They  are  cut  in  stone  ; placed  very  high  out  of  sight  on  the  Pavilions 
Denon  and  Mollien. 

Peace  and  War  on  Mollien. 

Order  and  Force  on  Denon. 

Cast  the  Theseus  and  Centaur  in  bronze. 

Pr6my  and  J oseph  Decaisne  procure  an  appointment  for  Barye  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Drawing  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes. 

1855  Shop  at  No.  10  Rue  Saint  Anastase,  Marais,  113  bronzes  for  sale. 
Universal  Exposition. 

Barye  receives  Grand  Medal  of  Honor  in  the  section  of  artistic  bronzes. 
Barye  receives  Officer’s  Cross  of  Legion  of  Honor. 


151 


LIFE  OF  BAEYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


1855  Bayle  St.  John  calls  attention  to  Barye’s  genius  in  ‘The  Louvre’; 

London  : Chapman  and  Hall. 

November.  The  sculptor  Rude  dies  at  the  age  of  71  years. 

1856  Theophile  Silvestre  has  an  appreciative  review  of  Barye  as  a sculptor  and 

a man  in  Histoire  des  Artistes  Vivants,  Frarnjais  et  Strangers.  Paris  : 
E.  Blanchard  ; Catalogues  by  L.  de  Yirmont ; Portrait  of  Barye  from 
Daguerreotype  on  steel  by  Flameng. 

Gustave  Planche  urges  in  print  that  Theseus  Slaying  Centaur  Bianor  at 
the  Le  Puy  museum  be  doubled  in  size,  cut  in  marble  and  placed  in 
Tuileries. 

1859  W.  T.  Walters  of  Baltimore  becomes  interested  in  Barye’s  bronzes,  and 

buys  for  presents  and  his  own  home. 

1860  Wm.  M.  Hunt  the  painter  induces  Americans  to  buy  bronzes. 

1861  Richard  M.  Hunt,  student  of  architecture,  models  animals  at  the  Jardin 

des  Plantes  under  Barye. 

1862  Equestrian  Statue  of  Napoleon  I for  Ajaccio,  Corsica. 

A Victory  for  the  same. 

1863  Eugene  Delacroix  dies  aged  64. 

Barye  made  President  of  the  Consulting  Commission,  Central  Union  of 
Arts  applied  to  Industries. 

April  30th.  Walking  Lion  in  Solid  Silver  the  Grand  Prize  at  the  Long- 
champs  races  won  by  Fille  de  l’Air,  owned  by  Count  de  la  Grange. 
Grand  Clock  for  the  Hotel  Pereire  with  Apollo  Conducting  the  Chariot 
of  the  Sun  and  Hours  leading  his  steeds.  Unique  piece. 

Sketches  for  portions  of  this  : 

Apollo  as  Sun-god  Seated,  plaster. 

Apollo  Standing,  plaster. 

Woman  Standing,  plaster. 

Antique  Chariot,  plaster. 

1865  Barye’s  studio  is  in  the  Rue  Mouffletard. 

Order  received  for  an  Equestrian  Napoleon  I for  Grenoble. 

The  painter  Constant  Troyon  dies. 

1866  April.  Barye  hearing  that  Mercie  had  been  asked  for  a design  for  the 

Grenoble  Napoleon  throws  up  the  commission. 

Barye  offers  himself  as  candidate  for  Member  of  the  Institute  and  is 
refused. 

Receives  order  for  a bas-relief  in  bronze  over  entrance  to  Carrousel 
Court  of  Louvre,  Pavilion  Lesdiguieres : an  equestrian  Napoleon 
III  Dominating  History  and  the  Arts,  triumphal  piece  in  the  Roman 
style. 

Also  two  Reclining  River-gods,  stone,  for  the  same  front. 


152 


APPENDIX 


1866  Barye  considered  by  Theophile  Gautier  in  l’lllustration.  Portrait  by 

Mouilleron  engraved  on  wood. 

Crayon  sketch  of  Barye  by  Fran^ais. 

Bust  and  medallion  of  Barye  by  Geoffroy  Dechaume. 

Barye  carves  in  marble  a Sainte  Clotilde  for  a chapel  in  La  Madeleine. 

1867  Theodore  Rousseau  the  painter  dies  aged  55. 

February.  Article  on  Barye  in  the  Gazette  des  Beaux  Arts  by  Paul 
Mantz. 

Bust  of  Barye  in  bronze  by  Moulin. 

Carpeaux  takes  a pen  and  ink  sketch  of  Barye. 

Exposition  of  1867. 

Barye  receives  the  Grand  Gold  Medal. 

Order  for  four  groups  at  Marseilles. 

Barye  models  Jaguar  Overthrowing  an  Antelope.  Bear  Overthrowing 
a Buck  (fallow  deer). 

These  two  sketches  are  put  aside  for  other  groups  and  are  now  owned 
by  Barbedienne. 

1868  Barye  cuts  in  stone,  colossal  size,  for  the  Chateau  d’Eau  at  Marseilles  : 

Tiger  and  Doe. 

Tiger  and  Fawn. 

Lion  and  Boar. 

Lion  and  Antelope. 

Barye  is  induced  to  offer  himself  once  more  to  the  Institute  and  is  made 
Member  of  the  Institute. 

1869  Nereid  Arranging  her  Necklace. 

Arab  Riding  on  a Camel. 

1870  Napoleon  III,  bas-relief  on  Pavilion  Lesdiguieres,  Louvre,  plastered 

over  after  Sedan  and  removed  later. 

1873  Declines  an  order  for  a grand  vase  with  Centaurs  and  Lapiths  in  relief, 

stating  that  he  might  not  be  able  to  finish  it. 

W.  T.  Walters,  as  Chairman  of  a Committee  for  the  Corcoran  Gallery, 
Washington,  gives  Barye  an  order  for  one  of  every  bronze  he  has 
made. 

1874  Barye  supplies  the  Corcoran  Gallery  with  120  separate  pieces. 

1875  Corot  dies  aged  79. 

J.  F.  Millet  dies  aged  63. 

June  25.  A.  L.  Barye  dies  aged  79,  leaving  a wife  and  eight  children, 
with  two  daughters  more  by  his  first  wife. 

Article  in  L’Art  by  A.  Genevay. 

Article  in  L’Art  by  Ch.  Blanc. 

Article  in  Journal  des  Debats  by  Clement. 


20 


153 


LIFE  OF  BARYE  THE  SCULPTOR 


1875  Military  and  popular  funeral. 

October.  Exhibition  of  works  at  the  Fcole  des  Beaux  Arts. 

December.  Sale  of  Barye’s  bronzes,  models  in  wax  and  plaster,  oils, 
water-colors  and  drawings  at  the  Hotel  Drouot. 

1878  C.  F.  Daubigny  dies  aged  61. 

1880  Portrait  in  oils  of  Barye  in  old  age  painted  by  Leon  F.  Bonnat  from 
photographs. 

1882  Article  by  J.  Claretie  in  Peintres  et  Sculpteurs  Contemporains,  with 
etcbed  portrait  by  Massard. 

1885  February.  W.  T.  Walters  erects  in  Mt.  Vernon  Square,  Baltimore, 

bronzes  by  Barbedienne  after  the  following  groups  in  stone  on  the 
Cour  du  Carrousel,  Louvre  : 

Peace. 

War. 

Order. 

Force. 

Also  bronze  duplicate  of  the  Seated  Lion  of  the  Quay  gate  of  Louvre 
cast  by  Barbedienne. 

September.  Article  by  Theodore  Child  in  Harper’s  Monthly  Magazine, 
with  fine  wood-cuts  by  Kruell,  Closson,  F.  French,  Wolf,  Muller,  A. 
E.  Wood,  Faber,  Bodenstab,  Pettit,  Tinkey,  Wellington  and  Tietze. 

1886  February.  Article  by  Henry  Eckford  (C.  de  Kay)  in  The  Century 

Magazine,  with  fine  wood-cuts  by  Whitney,  Turner,  Schwarzburger 
and  Kruell,  after  sketches  by  Kenyon  Cox  and  W.  H.  Drake,  and 
photographs. 

February  27.  Sichel  Sale  of  Bronzes,  etc.  by  Barye,  at  Paris ; preface  to 
the  Catalogue  written  by  Edmond  de  Goncourt. 

1888  Proposition  for  a monument  in  Paris. 

1889  April.  Exhibition  of  Works  by  Barye  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts  in 

aid  of  the  fund  for  the  monument.  Notice  in  catalogue  by  Eugene 
Guillaume  of  the  Institute,  President  of  the  Fund  Association. 

Life  of  Barye  in  French  by  Arsene  Alexandre,  published  by  Librairie  de 
l’Art,  Paris. 

May.  Article  by  Leon  F.  Bonnat  on  Barye  in  the  Gazette  des  Beaux 
Arts. 

Jules  Dupre  dies  aged  77  years. 

Plaster  cast  of  Lion  Crushing  Serpent  in  the  Tuileries  Gardens  pre- 
sented by  the  French  government  to  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  Central 
Park,  New  York. 

Suggestion  from  American  admirers  of  Barye  that  something  should  be 
done  to  assist  fund  for  his  monument  in  Paris. 

April.  Organization  discussed  in  New  York. 


154 


APPENDIX 


1889  May.  At  Baltimore,  Md.,  a Barye  Monument  Association  formed  for 
the  United  States  with  the  following  officers  : 

President:  Wm.  T.  Walters. 

Vice-Presidents  : Cyrus  J.  Lawrence. 

Henry  (1.  Marquand. 

James  C.  Welling. 

Treasurer : Cyrus  J.  Lawrence. 

Secretary  : Charles  de  Kay. 

Auditors  : Thomas  B.  Clarke. 

Theodore  K.  Gibbs. 

Harry  Walters. 

Publication  Committee  : Alex.  W.  Drake. 

W.  M.  Laffan. 

Managers  of  the  Exhibition : American  Art  Association. 

November.  Exhibition  at  the  American  Art  Gallery,  6 East  23d  Street, 
New  York,  of  first  proof  bronzes,  models  in  bronze,  plaster  and  wax, 
Barbedienne  bronze  reproductions,  oils,  water-colors  and  drawings  by 
Antoine  Louis  Barye  owned  in  the  United  States;  also  of  oil-paintings 
by  his  friends  and  contemporaries,  as  follows : 

Corot.  Daubigny,  C.  J.  Decamps.  Delacroix. 

Dupre,  Jules.  Gericault.  Millet.  Rousseau,  Theodore. 

Troy  on. 

Catalogue  by  Cyrus  J.  Lawrence,  with  extracts  from  an  article  on  Barye 
by  Leon  F.  Bonnat  prefixed. 


155 


4 

5 

9 

10 

16 

19 

23 

24 

26 

27 

33 

34 

40 

43 

44 

45 

47 

57 

58 

59 

60 

61 

62 

63 

64 

65 

66 

70 

73 

78 

81 

82 

83 

84 

86 


DRAUGHTSMEN,  ENGRAVERS  AND  PRINTERS 


Frontispiece Engraved  on  steel  by  Flameng 

Title-page From  the  drawing  by  W.  H.  Drake 

Tiger  Couchant Engraved  by  C.  Schwarzburger 

Rocks  at  Fontainebleau Engraved  by  IF.  H.  Turner 

Rabbit  on  the  Alert  } T.  , ^ „ 

^ . > Drawn  by  Kenyon  Cox 

Rabbit  on  the  Alert  > 

Tiger  Devouring  Gavial Engraved  by  John  Tinkey 

A.  L.  Bar  ye  at  35 Engraved  by  G.  Kruell 

Tiger  Rolling Engraved  by  Juengling 

Lion  Crushing  a Serpent Engraved  by  Henry  Marsh 

Indian  and  American  Bears Engraved  by  John  Tinkey 

Standing  Bear Engraved  by  Louis  Faber 

Lion  Meeting  Python Engraved  by  W.  B.  Closson 

Hunt  op  the  Tiger Engraved  by  Frank  French 

Eagle  Alighting Drawn  by  W.  H.  Drake 

Jaguar  Seizing  Alligator  \ T , „ „ 

Jaguar  Seizing  Alligator  > 

Fawn  at  Rest 

General  Bonaparte  

Seated  Lion  

Panther  Devouring  an  Agouti 

Jaguar  Devouring  a Hare 


Engraved  by  Cullen 

Engraved  by  David  Nichols 

.Engraved  by  Miss  C.  A.  Powell 

Engraved  by  F.  A.  Pettit 

.Engraved  by  Henry  Wolf 


Engraved  by  W.  B.  Closson 


Theseus  Slaying  the  Centaur Engraved  by  J.  H.  E.  Whitney 

Head  op  Seated  Lion  £ 

Head  op  Seated  Lion  j 

Hunt  op  the  Tiger Engraved  by  F.  TI.  Wellington 

Theseus  Slaying  Minotaur Engraved  by  J.  H.  E.  Whitney 

Bronze  Bust  op  Bar  ye Engraved  by  B.  G.  Tietze 

Hunt  op  the  Bear Drawn  by  Kenyon  Cox 

A.  L.  Barye  with  Centaur  Group Engraved  by  G.  Kruell 

Lion  in  Solid  Silver Engraved  by  A.  E.  Wood 

The  Seine Engraved  from  the  bronze  by  R.  A.  Muller 

War Drawn  by  Kenyon  Cox 

Peace  Engraved  by  F.  H.  Wellington 

Order j 

Force > Drawn  by  Kenyon  Cox 

Elephant  Running  ) 

Frontispiece Printed  by  Kimrnel  <&•  Voigt 

Wood-cuts  on  India  Paper Printed  by  John  C.  Bauer 

Wood-cuts  on  Holland  Paper Printed  by  Theo.  L.  De  Vinne  J Co. 

Artotypes Printed  by  Edward  Bierstadt 

Headbands  and  Tailpieces Drawn  by  Geo.  W.  Edwards 


156 


V 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


No.  page 


1 

A.  L.  Barye  aged  about  60 

Steel  print 

Frontis- 
• piece. 

2 

Walking  Lion 

1836 

Wood-cut 

Title- 

page. 

3 

Walking  Tiger 

1836 

Artotype. 

. . . 2 

4 

Tiger  Couchant  (water-color) 

Wood-cut  . 

. . . 4 

5 

Rocks  at  Fontainebleau  (oils)  

Wood-cut.  . 

. 6 

6 

Stork  on  Tortoise 

1824 

Artotype. 

. . 8 

7 

L^mmergeyer  and  Serpent 

1824 

Artotype. 

. . . 10 

8 

Milo  of  Crotona  Killed  by  Lion . . 

1819 

Artotype. 

. . . 12 

9 

Rabbit  on  the  Alert  (rear) 

Wood-cut  . 

. ..  12 

10 

Rabbit  on  the  Alert  (side) 

Wood-cut 

. ..  12 

11 

Seated  Cat  

1827 

Artotype  . 

. . . 108 

12 

Dromedary  of  EG\rPT 

1827 

Artotype. 

...  14 

13 

Seated  Hare  (two  views)  

Artotype 

...  128 

14 

Buck  of  Fallow  Deer  Playing  with  Stone 

1830 

Artotype. 

...  16 

15 

Red  Deer  of  Europe.  Hart,  Hind  and 

Fawn 

1832 

Artotype. 

. . . 16 

16 

Tiger  Devouring  Gavial  of  Ganges 

1831 

Wood-cut 

...  18 

17 

Stag  Seized  by  Cougar  (etching  by  Barye). 

Wood-cut 

. ..  20 

18 

Ocelot  and  Heron 

Artotype. 

22 

19 

A.  L.  Barye  at  35 ; after  a lithograph  by 

Gigoux  

1831 

Wood-cut 

...  24 

20 

Hart  Seized  by  two  Scotch  Hounds 

1833 

Artotype. 

. . . 26 

21 

Elephant  of  Asia  Running 

1834 

Artotype 

...  28 

22 

Horse  Surprised  by  Young  Lion 

1833 

Artotype . 

. . 30 

23 

Tiger  Rolling  (water-color) 

Wood-cut 

...  32 

24 

Lion  Crushing  a Serpent;  Tuileries 

1832 

Wood-cut 

...  34 

25 

Lion  Striking  at  Serpent 

. . Artotype. 

...  36 

26 

American  and  Indian  Bears  Wrestling.  . . 

. . Wood-cut 

38 

27 

Standing  Bear 

1833 

Wood-cut 

. . 40 

28 

Barye  Caricatured  as  a Bear 

Artotype. 

...  42 

29 

Bear  Overthrown  by  Mastiffs 

1833 

. . Artotype. 

...  44 

30 

Bear  in  its  Trough 

1834 

Artotype. 

...  44 

157 


31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

46 

47 

48 

49 

50 

51 

52 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

58 

59 

60 

61 

62 

63 

64 

65 

66 

67 

68 

69 

70 

71 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Bear  Surprising  Owe Artotype 46 


Elk  Surprised  by  Lynx 

1834 

Artotype... 

..  48 

Lion  Meeting  Python  Snake  (water-color) 

Wood-cut . . 

..  126 

Hunt  op  the  Tiger 

1834 

Wood-cut . . 

..  50 

Hunt  op  the  Elk 

1834 

Artotype... 

..  52 

Hitnt  op  the  Bear 

1834 

Artotype. . . 

. . 54 

Hunt  op  the  Wild  Ox 

1834 

Artotype.  . . 

..  56 

Panther  Devouring  Gazelle 

1834 

Artotype. . . 

. . 58 

Panther  op  Tunis  Couchant 

Artotype. . . 

..  124 

Eagle  Alighting 

1835 

. Wood-cut  . . 

. . 60 

Wolf  Caught  in  Trap 

Artotype... 

. . 62 

Lion  Devouring  Doe 

1837 

Artotype. . . 

..  142 

Jaguar  Seizing  Alligator  (front) 

1837 

Wood-cut . . 

..  66 

Jaguar  Seizing  Alligator  (rear) 

1837 

Wood-cut . . 

..  140 

Fawn  at  Best  (etching  by  C.  Jacque) 

1840 

Wood-cut  . . 

. . 62 

Asian  Elephant  Crushing  Tiger 

1837 

..  Artotype... 

. . 70 

General  Bonaparte 

1838 

Wood-cut . . 

. . 136 

Bull  Attacked  by  Bear 

1839 

Artotype.  . . 

. . 64 

Python  Swallowing  Doe  (two  views) 

Artotype.  . . 

. . 122 

Bull  on  the  Defensive 

1841 

Artotype . . . 

. . 134 

Lion  op  the  July  Column,  Place  Bastille 

1840 

. . Artotype  . . . 

. 112 

Ape  Riding  a Gnu 

Roger  Bearing  Off  Angelica  on  the  Hip- 

1842 

Artotype. . . 

. . 68 

pogripp 

1840 

Artotype.  . . 

. . 70 

Candelabrum  with  Three  Goddesses  .... 

1840 

Artotype. . . 

. . 70 

Mediaeval  Peasant  (from  Bear-hunt) 

Artotype.  . . 

. . 118 

Python  Crushing  a Crocodile 

1840 

Artotype. . . 

. . 110 

Seated  Lion,  Quai  du  Louvre 

1846 

Wood-cut  . . 

. . 74 

Panther  Devouring  an  Agouti 

1847 

Wood-cut . . 

. . 76 

Jaguar  Devouring  a Hare 

1848 

Wood-cut  . . 

. . 90 

Theseus  Slaying  the  Centaur  Bianor.  . . . 

1850 

Wood-cut . . 

..  78 

Head  op  Seated  Lion  (front) 

Wood-cut  . . 

. . 86 

Head  op  Seated  Lion  (profile) 

Wood-cut . . 

. . 86 

Hunt  op  the  Tiger  (from  right) 

Wood-cut  . . 

..  78 

Theseus  Slaying  Minotaur 

1851 

Wood-cut . . 

. 80 

Bronze  Bust  op  Barye  by  Moulin 

1851 

Wood-cut . . 

..  82 

Hunt  of  the  Bear  (another  view) 

1851 

Wood-cut . . 

. XII 

Panther  Seizing  Elk 

1851 

. . Artotype . . . 

. . 84 

Mounted  Arabs  Killing  Lton 

Artotype... 

. 88 

Python  Crushing  African  Horseman 

Artotype.  . . 

. 120 

A.  L.  Barye  with  Centaur  Group 

Wood-cut . . 

. 92 

Tatar  Warrior  Checking  Horse 

Artotype.  . . 

. 94 

158 


72 

73 

74 

75 

76 

77 

78 

79 

80 

81 

82 

83 

84 

85 

86 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Greyhound  and  Hare 

Artotype. 

PAGE 

...  96 

Walking  Lion  in  Solid  Silver 

1863 

Wood-cut . 

...  98 

War,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre 

1855 

Artotype. 

. . 100 

Peace,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre 

1855 

Artotype. 

. . . 100 

Order,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre  

1855 

Artotype. 

...  102 

Force,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre 

1855 

Artotype. 

. . 102 

The  Seine  : Left-hand  River-god,  Louvre 

1865 

Wood-cut 

...  106 

Autograph  Letter,  by  A.  L.  Barye 

1866 

Artotype. 

104 

Growling  Wolf  Walking  (Rousseau’s)  . . . . 

. . Artotype . 

...  116 

War,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre 

1855 

Wood-cut 

...  133 

Peace,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre 

1855 

. . Wood-cut 

...  132 

Order,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre 

1855 

Wood-cut 

...  160 

Force,  Stone  Group  on  Louvre 

1855 

Wood-cut. 

. . VIII 

A.  L.  Barye,  Portrait  by  Bonnat 

1875 

Artotype. 

...  130 

Elephant  of  Senegal  Running 

. . Wood-cut 

22 

No.  83. 

Order,  Group  on  Louvre. 
Stone. 


5SS 

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